Sins Of The Past
by DanH2010
Summary: Alice co-owns Leopards den with Dupe, she is very private and no one knows alot about her past. WIll she open up and find love or will the secrets of her past hinder this? AU fic
1. Melancholy

**Sins Of The Past**

**A/N AU, ok people here we are, the newest most recent fic, I had a few ideas for this then they started going a little crazy so I have no idea where this one will end up…..anyway I have switched things up a little bit for this fic, the situation is reversed somewhat family situations, who co-owns Leopards Den and other people will be showing up but not with the family ties you are familiar with…..anyway read on and as always hope you enjoy my story xxx**

* * *

Alice dragged her feet through the front door and came to a stop at the top of her veranda, sipped her coffee and watched as the golden sun slowly rose over the horizon. It was a sight she never tired of, watching her land slowly coming to life, browns and lush greens, animals coming from their dens to stroll around freely, elephants nudging her pockets for oranges and the wild boars scampering here and there.

South to her she could see the sunlight glistening from her surgery windows and she couldn't hold back the swell of pride she felt, she had worked hard to get here! She inhaled deeply and filled her lungs with the sweet clean taste of an African morning. Her eyes drifted shut and she was reminded of the date, the pride, her enjoyment and the contentment which seemed constantly elusive filtered away leaving melancholy in its wake. What could be a quiet perfect morning was now spoiled, spoiled because something was missing, it seemed there was always something missing. As time passed she had learned to live without it, adapted to life without it….and some days she was able to fool herself, forget and be happy, but other days, like this one, no amount of lying to herself was going to make this better.

Bowing her head Alice looked into her coffee mug studying the variation of colours within, if he was here what would she say? Would she try to explain or would it be futile, had too much time passed? Would her words mean a thing to him? It seemed like she was forever asking herself these same questions and no answer was ever forthcoming, the one question though that lingered longer than any of the others, had she done the right thing? Was he happy?…..throwing the contents of her mug into the nearest bush she began to make her way inside the house. It didn't matter now, none of it did, the deed was done and nothing she did could change it! All these thoughts did were remind her of things she couldn't have, not then and definitely not now! And regardless of what date it was she needed to remember that…..and as reasonable as that seemed it was also completely impossible!

* * *

After having a long shower and forcing all of the negative thoughts from her mind she felt human enough to begin her rounds or at least try and eat something, Nomsa had been on at her for not eating enough so to save Nomsa stalking her carrying a basket of food she was going to have to have something. Tying her hair back she exited her room to find Nomsa a blur in the kitchen stirring scrambled eggs, flipping bacon making the kitchen smell heavenly. It didn't matter that there were only four of them to eat it, she always made enough to feed a small army…..time to test her acting skills.

"Good morning Nomsa," Alice said brightly as she entered the kitchen, "Morning Caroline."

Caroline sat eating steadily and nodded at Alice in reply. Alice looked around, "No Dupe?"

Caroline began to chuckle softly. "He crawled home from Fatani's last night, I found him passed out on the steps at five am. Someone must have put him in a taxi and threw him out while it was still running."

Nomsa shook her head, "Probably worried that they were get drunk from the fumes coming off him!"

Alice smiled sat down, poured herself a glass of orange juice and picked up a slice of toast.

"You need to eat girl!" Nomsa scolded, pushing a heaped plate towards her.

Alice looked at the plate and grimaced, "Girl? I'm almost thirty, hardly a girl, I haven't been a girl since, well forever…." she looked back down at her plate and shook her head, even if she was hungry, which she wasn't she still couldn't eat all that!

"A girl doesn't become a woman until she has a family to take care of!" Nomsa told he pointedly gestured with her wooden spoon. "Isn't that right Caroline?"

Caroline nodded.

Alice exhaled and rolled her eyes, she was roping in Caroline? Really? No disrepect but she married Anders Du Plessis! That kind of negated your right to an opinion on marriage!

Nomsa hit Alice on the top of her head with the spoon, "Don't make that expression at me! Caroline and I have made you our project!"

Alice who was wincing while rubbing her head looked between the two women, "Project?" she asked hesitantly and found herself moving away instinctively at the look on Caroline's face, her eyes widened, "Look I don't know what you two are planning but….."

"Within eighteen months you my dear girl will be married!" Caroline cut her off, leaving no room for argument.

Alice felt her worries melt away and she picked up her juice to drink. "Good luck with that."

"We don't need luck!" Caroline retorted.

"Really? Because unless you plan to tie me up and drag me down the aisle I very much doubt that will be happening within the next decade never mind in 18 months, but go ahead try, I look forward to it."

Nomsa shook her head.

"Married, pfft!" "Alice carried on shaking her head in derision. "Marriage is nothing but a load of malarky why do that to yourself?"

Nomsa went to hit her head again but Alice moved just in time before she connected. "Marriage is important!" Nomsa reprimanded. "Family is important….."

"I know family is important ok!" Alice snapped. "But marriage isn't the be all and end all of life!" her eyes flaming, chest heaving, "I don't need that in my life! Not now, not ever!"

"Alice dear." Caroline said softly breaking through her haze, patting her hand gently. "We love you and want what's best for you. Recently you have seemed so down, its so unlike you. You're so secluded out here with just three old people for company, we won't be around forever."

Alice bowed her head and ran her hands through her hair feeling like a heel for losing her temper with them so quickly. It wasn't their fault, they didn't know the significance of the date, they didn't know much about her past. They loved her and unfortunately they were a bit old fashioned and believe the path to true happiness was marriage and kids, and yes in that order. Alice raised her head, "Look." she started much calmer. "I'm grateful really I am but I'm fine. I don't need a man in my life, I don't even want one right now and even if I did I'm too busy to fall in love never mind have a child, in a few months I'll think about but right now? No way." Alice hoped that the stalling tactic she adopted would deter the ladies, at least for a little while…..no such luck!

"You need to go out and meet someone." Caroline told her.

"How do you expect to find a man locked away like an old maid." Nomsa added.

Alice's head bobbed from Caroline who sat at the kitchen table to Nomsa who was up to her elbows in bubbles. Alice pushed her plate of food away untouched and narrowed her eyes. "I am hardly an old maid, I'm 29 not exactly past it! I will get around to it I'm just busy right now."

"Life will pass you by Alice, we were your age once and before you know it you're our age!"

"Dear god!" Alice breathed, "Your concern is noted and logged ok." and she went to leave.

"At least until you start looking keep your eyes open, it takes seconds to meet the one, you'll know as soon as you see him." Caroline advised.

Alice stopped walking and closed her eyes a moment as an image of a boy filled her mind, tall and smiling promising her they'd be together forever, nothing coming between them. As the image dissolved she turned her head and looked at the two women. "I will, now I need to go."

Nomsa and Caroline watched her leave the house, concern etched over each of their faces. "I wonder why she is so against marriage." Caroline murmured.

"It's obvious isn't it? Someone has hurt her in the past, someone she loved."

"But Nomsa she has lived here for five years and hasn't been with anyone, how could anyone have hurt her?"

"The girl had a life before." after drying her hands on a tea towel Nomsa retrieved a plate and sat by Caroline at the table.

"But that's kids stuff, not serious, puppy love."

"What if he was her first love? You still remember your first love don't you?" Nomsa challenged.

Caroline nodded. "Ok, but still shouldn't she have got over it moved on by now?

"Who needs to get over what?" Dupe asked sauntering into the kitchen in his customary vest and boxers. Voice rough from lack of sleep.

"Alice needs a man." Caroline told him.

Dupe scratched his head and yawned as he sat down. "I can get her one if she needs one."

Caroline levelled him with a look, "Someone nice, presentable, not someone who only wants one thing!"

"Ach!" Dupe groused. "It's about time I say! It's not normal for a young girl to not bring men home, when she moved in I was expecting to have a lot more to be angry about! Like the men disrespecting her! No chance of that!" he was piling bacon on his plate when Caroline removed the source from his reach. "This isn't her, its us." she told him.

Dupe froze and looked at them wearily. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean she has to want to go out with him!" he shook his head. "Don't tell me we're gonna be adopting someone else!"

"We can't possibly make it worse can we?" Nomsa replied.

"What if we find her the perfect man?" Caroline added.

"Oh God!" Dupe muttered, this wasn't going to end well! There was going to be bloodshed, he best lock away all his guns! "I want no part of this." he told them before starting to eat.

Caroline made a face at him and began to plot with Nomsa, "We just need the right man, someone solid, dependable, reliable…."

"Single, handsome, clever…." Nomsa added.

Dupe looked at them, "Does such a man even exist?"

"Quiet!" Caroline told him. "We'll go to town and start an initial search there, we'll find someone I'm sure of it!"

Dupe hid his face in the palm of his hand.

* * *

Alice completed her rounds in the surgery and went to all the callouts, then she visited her friend Vanessa who owned Mara. She and Vanessa couldn't be more different, Vanessa was elegant, always looking professional in her pant suits, manicured, perfectly groomed, tall and blond every inch the executive she seemed to be. Alice however enjoyed jeans and boots and didn't mind getting very dirty in her quest to save the world one animal at a time. They were sat in Vanessa's office, the day had passed quickly and Alice had skipped dinner it was now after three and she was aware that she was going to have to go home and eat, as it was she was enjoying her conversation with Vanessa. She had yet to tell her friend about the gruesome twosomes plan for her though.

"You'll never guess what Caroline and Nomsa have planned for me, they've got it in my head I need to get married! Sometimes I swear they are worse than Dupe!"

"So you are going to finally start dating then?" Vanessa asked signing a form, she had known Alice a while and she had shown zero interest in men.

"Not you too." Alice moaned. "Why do people seem to think I need to get married or meet a man? I don't need a man in my life to be happy!"

"Alice." Vanessa said simply swishing her blond hair. "None of us need men in our lives, but we want them."

"Well I don't want one either, I'm happy as I am. Foot loose, fancy free and answering to no one but me!"

"What about kids? Don't you want them one day?"

Alice pinched the bridge of her nose, Vanessa comment reminding her of the life she had planned one day, "It doesn't matter, if I have kids one day great, if I don't I can live with that."

"There is always adoption I suppose." Vanessa surmised. "You're stable, you own your own house and business."

Alice lowered her hand. "No adoption." her voice final and she looked out of the window at the couples hand in hand, her eyes moving the families in the swimming pool splashing and having fun.

"Alice are you ok? You've been in a funny old mood recently." moving her paperwork into her top drawer.

Alice studied her friend wanting to confide in her but unable to. How do you explain something like that? How she was always wondering, how every year it got harder, how sometimes just so she could forget she immersed herself in work so much she drove herself to exhaustion. Fifteen years ago her life had been so different! She had no career, no direction, she just had a boy who loved her and she loved back, and she thought that was all she needed. Again his face materialised, his cheeky grin, the way his nose crinkled before he laughed, the intensity of his gaze before he kissed her, the scent of him when he held her close….

"Alice!" Vanessa almost shouted.

Yanked from her memories she shook her head trying to chase them off, "I'll be fine Vanessa, I'm just working too hard."

"It's more than that Alice, we both know that. I'm always here if you need to talk, any time you need me."

Alice smiled and nodded, "Thanks Vanessa." she checked her watch. "I'd better be going, I've got a lot on in the coming days, I need to go down and start airing the luxury guest hits, I'm booked solid. Thankfully Caroline and Nomsa take care of that side of business but when we're this busy they need me to chip in sometimes."

"You'll have to come over one night and me and you can hit Jo'burg."

Alice laughed. "Since your divorce came through you're going out like you have something to prove."

"That marriage was a mistake from start to finish! The only thing I don't regret is Gracie. She and her dad are on a month long cruise around the Caribbean islands, its quiet when she isn't here." Grace was Vanessa's fifteen year old daughter. Vanessa was slightly older than Alice at 36, she had married her husband when they were 20 when she found out she was pregnant. Alice had never seen her happier than when her divorce finally came though. "I'll call you and pencil in a night, as is duty calls." her rumbling stomach reminding her of her lack of lunch.

"Don't work too hard, I need you well rested for Jo'burg!"

Alice grinned then waved as she left.

After starting her truck and making her trek home her thoughts once again returned to the boy she once knew. Danny, he'd been so tall back then, 6 foot if he was a day and she'd been in love with him since she was 13 and he was 15. Ever since she first met him she had been unable to see herself with anyone else. It was a few weeks before her nineteenth birthday when it all began to fall apart and by the time her 20th birthday came about they had broken up and started divorce proceedings. Prior to the divorce they hadn't seen each other in six months. This was a love that was supposed to last forever, something which had been so simple became hard and unbearable. Her home appeared in the distance but instead of going into the house she went to her surgery to dispense medication, it could have waited another hour but she needed a distraction and her animals were it.

* * *

Nomsa and Caroline were setting up the luxury guest hut for the guests arriving tomorrow. They had been to town to buy some shopping and the lack of decent men around have been depressing.

"The men in town are completely unsuitable for Alice." Nomsa breathed. "The decent ones have already been snapped up! She's left it too late."

"There are still good men out there Nomsa, we'll have to look a little harder for them, I mean we were setting sights a little low by looking in Glen Afric town centre weren't we?"

"But Alice needs to meet someone soon. It takes time to get to know each other!" she told her smoothing the sheet on the bed over. "Maybe one of the men staying in here might be eligible. They asked for separate beds so they aren't together and they said they wanted to mix business with pleasure while they were here. You never know, prince charming might well be from another country!"

Caroline shook her head, "They are only staying two weeks we want long term is the first flaw in that and second Alice would never fool around with a guest, its unprofessional and bad for business."

"Or good depends on how you look at it."

Caroline narrowed her eyes.

"Ok, ok, but what if she did like one of them and she could use him as a, I dunno, a re-initiation." Nomsa sat on the freshly made bed. "Maybe we could ask Vanessa I'm sure she knows lots of young men."

"Vanessa can be a last resort, the less people who know about this the less chance Alice has of finding out about us doing it covertly. Until then keep your eyes open, the right man could be the next person we see!"

And as if on cue Fatani walked up the stairs to the hut and pushed the net aside.

"Caroline Dupe told me you were here, I need the invoice for the surgery Alice performed on my mothers dog."

Caroline looked at Fatani and then at Nomsa, "Fatani!" she told Nomsa.

"Fatani? Really?" Nomsa questioned not convinced.

"He's perfect, he's single, owns his own business, is dependable, loves his mum….."

"Yeah I think a little too much!" Nomsa said softly.

"I think I've missed something." he told them.

"See, clever too!" Caroline added.

Nomsa studied him and shrugged, "I suppose he'll do, for now anyway."

"Do for what?" he questioned confused.

Caroline shook her head. "Nothing, Cedric, come in sit down. I'll take you up to Alice in a moment."

He sat on a seat and folded his hands together.

"So Cedric, you're single aren't you?" Caroline asked plumping a pillow.

He glanced over, "Yes."

"Are you looking for love?" Nomsa enquired.

Fatani began to fidget in his seat. "Um, I suppose so."

Both Nomsa and Caroline were quiet and Fatani was relieved that the subject of his love life, or lack of one was dropped. That is until Nomsa and Caroline moved with surprisingly speed and surrounded him as he sat on his seat. He was blocked into a corner and couldn't get up.

"When was the last time you had a date Cedric?" Nomsa asked looking into his eyes.

"A few weeks ago." he stammered.

"Oh yes, I remember Dupe mentioned it didn't go very well." Caroline told him full of sympathy.

For some reason Fatani didn't believe that she felt all that sympathetic! "It didn't."

"What if we could get you a date with a beautiful woman?" Caroline asked.

"Wh…what would I have to do?"

"Ask her." they chorused.

He swallowed hard, "How beautiful is she?"

"Very!" Nomsa assured.

"Do I know her?"

"Yes, but not very well. We think a lot of men would like to get her better but she seems to be shy." Caroline replied.

Fatani began to relax, for a moment he had been worried that perhaps Nomsa wanted a date or they were going to set him up with an old woman, but very beautiful meant she had to be young! "Ok who am I going out with?"

"Alice." they said together.

"Alice who?"

"Our Alice." Nomsa told him.

"Alice Alice?" he asked pointing towards the house.

Nomsa and Caroline nodded simply.

"No, no, no, no, no." came out rapidly. "I couldn't…."

"What exactly is wrong with Alice?" Caroline shrieked raising herself up to her full height, back so stiff it looked close to breaking.

Fatani realised his mistake and began to back track. "Nothing!" he assured, "She's beautiful and funny and….well I'm just not attracted to her, she's a good friend but not….well… I couldn't see us in a relationship."

"You will ask her out Fatani or I will make sure my husband doesn't step foot in your bar again!" Caroline warned.

Fatani rubbed his face. "But Alice doesn't like me either." he moaned.

"Well if that is true than she'll say no and you're off the hook aren't you?" Nomsa reasoned.

Fatani closed his eyes, "Fine!"

"Oh and on final thing, you can't tell her we had the idea for this." Caroline added.

"But…."

"It defeats the purpose if you tell her about us Cedric, do you think she'd go out with you of we asked you to do it? If you tell her Anders won't…."

"Ok!" he yelped. "But I know she is going to say no, we are just friends."

"Well you have nothing to worry about then do you." and Nomsa smiled at him.

Fatani was about to leave when they heard the rumble of a truck in the distance. Nomsa peeked out and saw Alice climbing from the truck. Caroline ushered Fatani into the bathroom while Nomsa met Alice halfway smiling at her. "Alice what are you doing here?"

Alice halted at the foot of the stairs and looked up at her, "I thought you and Caroline needed me to sort out this hut for our guests tomorrow."

"It's fine, we had less to do than we thought. Have you seen Fatani recently?"

Alice shook her head, "No, why?"

"He needs the invoice for Queenies leg and he said he had to talk to you about something."

"Is Queenie still ill?"

Nomsa shrugged. "I have no idea, he might still be up at the house if you hurry you might catch him."

Alice nodded. "If you see him before I do will you tell him that I can Dupe to drop off the invoice." and Alice retreated and started the truck to go home.

Fatani appeared beside Nomsa when they were sure the truck was out of sight.

"I gave you the opening of asking her out." Nomsa informed Fatani.

"Thanks a lot." he replied dryly.

**A/N Ohhhhhh Dupe is right, this isn't going to end well, Alice is upset about something in her past and Nomsa and Caroline are now trying to set her up with Fatani!  
Keep reading, like I said more people coming in who we are all familiar with AND some very familiar pairings too…..  
I have a non AU fic planned too but i have no time to write or type :( xxx**


	2. Fatani

Alice arrived at the house to find it empty so she loaded up the computer and printed out the invoice Fatani requested, as the printer whirred and she waited for the document her eyes strayed to the frame which rested by the laptop. It was a small wooden frame, not ornate at all, the picture inside was a nice one. It was Caroline and Dupes wedding photo. Caroline looked as elegant as always, her hair a lot shorter then, Dupe looked absolutely haggard, his clothes tatty, torn and dirty, his hair dishevelled but the mans smile, it was almost like she could read his thoughts, they were right there shining, this was a man who was getting everything he ever wanted. Of course the whole day was a shambles and Dupe almost lost the woman he loved due to a stag do mishap. He spent most of the day missing but came to the rescue just in time, in a hot air balloon no less! The man adored Caroline more than was logical, more than you might think a man like Dupe could love, but there was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

She'd heard those words before too, 'I'll do anything for you,' had been whispered in her ear on a day not too dissimilar to Caroline and Dupes day…..as the words echoed she practically tore the invoice from the printer and stomped from the study.

She halted by her bedroom door, debating about whether she was going to go in there and torture herself with memories again….and even though she knew it was futile and would only put her in a foul mood she couldn't ignore the impulse. She entered her bedroom closing the door behind her and pulled her suitcase off the top of her wardrobe. The zip opened almost effortlessly and she removed a small locked box. Alice put in the combination, it opened with a squeak. There were a number of things in this box, photos, keepsakes from happier times and a small velvet box. Nomsa and Caroline was wrong or maybe they were right depending on how you looked at it, she wasn't a girl, hadn't been since she was seventeen. Alice opened the box to reveal a simple gold band, there had been a matching engagement ring but she had threw that at her husband in a fit of rage during the dying embers of her marriage, yeah marriage, she had been married for a little over three years. Alice removed the ring from the box holding it in the palm of her hand. This wasn't supposed to have happened, they were supposed to last forever.

Everyone had been right, they had been far too young, rushing to become adults instead of enjoying being kids, at the time though nothing had felt so right before, she wanted to belong to Danny in every sense of the word, she wanted nothing to stand between them, she wanted to share his name, his life, everything! She had loved him so much, she had loved him pretty much from that first day, even as arrogant as he seemed at times….

* * *

Alice sat on her friends bed looking at her as he friend was doing her make up. They were both thirteen and her friend was trying to convince her that she needed her to come to the local football field with her.

"Tell me again why I have to be there with you?" Alice asked.

Her friend glanced back at her, eyes shining with mischievousness, "Coz mum will never believe I'm doing homework otherwise, Alice Collins is a good girl remember."

Alice rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but if I come I have to sit on a dirty field while you and Scott eat the face off each other, not my idea of fun Ash!"

"You might meet someone." Ash grinned nodding.

"On a field full of sweaty boys? What a selection, I can hardly wait!" Alice said dryly, looking in the mirror and running her fingers through her hair fixing it.

"C'mon Alice I'll need someone to talk to while Scott plays."

At the pleading look on her friends face Alice relented, "Ok, but only because it is sunny and I'll be able to work on my tan!"

Ashley grinned at her.

Alice put her hand on her friends shoulder halting her, "But don't bother kissing Scott in front of me, I can do without that image!"

Ashley cackled and they both picked up their bags of 'homework' and left. An hour later Alice was sat legs stretched out in front of her face raised to the sky a slight way from Scott and Ashley who were engrossed in each other. Alice was absolutely bored to tears, football wasn't her thing and sweaty boys were definitely not her thing! I mean all they seemed to do was run from on end of the field to another. A tall boy ran past her kicked the ball hard and scored. He fisted the air then winked at her.

Alice rolled her eyes and sighed. A lad from behind the tall boy ran from behind him absolutely dripping with sweat. Her eyes widened and she withheld a grimace please don't let him…..

He took a seat bind her before she could fish the feverent prayer that he'd find his own patch of grass leaving hers sweat free!

"Hi." he said cockily.

"Hey." Alice replied leaning away slightly, her face twisted in disgust.

"I saw you watching me."

"Really?" she breathed, "I doubt that." she had actually been looking at a tall boy who scored, she looked for him and found him leaning against the goal smiling at her.

"No need to be shy, I'm Brandon." and he sidled closer to her.

Alice sat there praying none of his bodily fluids touched her. "Don't your team need you, looks like they about to play again."

"Thought I'd keep you company." wiped the sweat from his forehead onto his sleeve. Alice made a face.

"Look, they are about to kick off, you better get on the pitch!" she practically pleaded.

He leaned in closer to her. "Only if you promise to cheer for me."

"Fine!" she agreed.

"And give me you phone number."

"Maybe…."

"And a good luck kiss?" Suddenly he was moving towards her, Alice was about to scramble away when a ball flew over their heads. She shrieked and moved.

The tall boy she'd been watching jogged over. "Take my place in midfield will you Brandon, I think I pulled my hamstring or something," and he rubbed his leg.

Brandon glanced at Alice then on the pitch, the position he was being given was his favourite and he decided to take the offer, he retrieved the ball and ran on the field.

Alice exhaled in relief she glanced at the boy as silence fell.

"No thank you?" the tall boy asked looking at her with his arms crossed.

Alice stood up and she still had to look up at the boy. He was very tall with moss green eyes and he was smirking at her, his eyes shining in delight, like he knew she needed his help before….and that irritated her.

"Why?" she asked nonchalantly. "I had everything under control."

The boy laughed suddenly and his face transformed, "So Brandon wasn't about to plant his sweaty hands all over you?" he whispered bending down, his eyes locked on hers.

"If you don't back off I'll show you exactly what I was about to do to him." she warned voice cold.

"Ohhh." he murmured taking a step back. "I'd better do that since you were about to run from him screaming, we don't want that do we?"

She narrowed her eyes, something flaring in her chest, anger…..and something else.

"Actually it might actually just be worth it to see what you'd do." he added winked and then jogged back on the field.

Alice clenched her jaw and found herself watching the boy, he acted like that and hadn't even told her his name! She listened intently but they all seemed to call him Trevanion, that was a weird name. He looked over at her and caught her staring, he seemed to grow taller a few inches and the look on his face told her he knew she was watching him. Eugh! Arrogant boys! And she took off her jacket, bunched it up and rested her head on it.

She lay there for a while looking at the clouds and telling herself not to think about the boy who was currently unnamed…..he did have nice eyes though, and a nice smile too and she had kinda noticed his bum when he bent down to pick up the ball earlier…..damn it Alice, stop it now! She peeked over at him, did he know she was thinking about him? Or telling herself not to. Was he thinking about her? Grinding her teeth she continued her perusal of the clouds... without warning a ball appeared from nowhere aiming directly for her face. She shrieked certain she was about to be pulverised when the sun was blocked out by the tall boy. His arms were out stretched and he caught the ball. Alice sighed in relief, then she realised who it was and groaned.

"That's two you owe me!" gave her a knowing look and returned to the group. She decided to quit while she was behind and leave. Ashley wouldn't even notice anyway! She noticed the boy approaching again and shook her head.

"Before you say anything I'm going ok!" she snapped.

"Sorry. Brandon aimed the ball at you coz he's an idiot I came to warn you that he's going to do it again. I think he realised you don't like him."

"Marvellous!" she shook her head, "How does he know I don't like him? By the way I didn't want his sweat on me?" tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Coz he saw you watching me."

Alice stood up to face him and was once again struck by how tall he was, "I wasn't watching anyone!"

"I know but he's an idiot, want me to sit with you for a while?"

She shook her head, even though he was acting a lot better than he did before she was ready to leave. "I'm going to try and prise my friend off her boyfriend and go home." looked around and saw Ashley was gone. She actually couldn't believe this, her friend ditched her, for a boy? Alice rang Ashley but it was the third call before Ashley picked up.

"Where are you?" Alice asked barely holding on to her temper.

"I went to the shop with Scott, he needed a drink."

"Way to abandon me Ash!"

"Well you were lain on the grass and it looked like you were asleep. I didn't want to disturb you."

Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing, "So you leave me asleep with almost fifteen teenage boys? Do you realise what could have happened to me? Its nice that my safety is such a priority for you!"

"Alice…."

"No! Go to hell Ashley!" and she put the phone down, looked to see Danny hadn't moved. "I'd better be going." she murmured.

"Were you worried about wouldn't have happened to you? You shouldn't have, you were safe even if you were asleep."

"What?" she asked.

"You were worried about being….well attacked coz you're alone, it wouldn't have happened."

"How?" she asked dryly.

He smiled at her so sweetly she almost melted, "I wouldn't have let them hurt you." his voice was low. "Let me walk you home."

She snapped out of it immediately. "Sorry, its not safe to walk home with someone I don't know."

"I'm Danny Trevanion." and offered his hand.

"Alice Collins." and they shook briskly.

"So can I walk you home?" he asked with a wry smile.

"If you want." and she shrugged.

Danny jogged over to beside the goal and was sorting through some stuff. Alice had picked up her jacket and bag when Brandon kicked the ball in her direction almost hitting her. She was sick of that and already angry at her friend so she decided to give him taste of his own medicine. She waited until he turned back collected a ball put it on the grass and kicked it with all the power she could muster. She was aiming for him but didn't expect to it to hit him. Brandon seemed to move in the final second though and the ball impacted his midsection sending him slumped to the floor holding himself. Alice nodded feeling pleased with herself, even more so when she looked at Danny to find him grinning at her. The sight of his smile started a fluttering in the pit of her stomach.

Danny frowned suddenly and Alice saw Brandon was on his feet, limping slightly but heading right for her. She could run, that was the instinctive reaction, but decided to instead stand her ground. He started this by kicking the ball at her, it wasn't her fault that she finished it better than him! So she crossed her arms, steeled her spine and gave him a belligerent look. When Brandon reached her he didn't say a word just grabbed a fistful of her collar getting in her face trying to intimidate her. Alice tried to pull herself free but he had her in a vice grip. Alice was starting to worry when Danny stepped in.

"You've proved your point." Danny said coldly and removed Brandon's hand from Alice's collar.

The rest of the boys were stood watching.

"No I haven't." Brandon replied coldly glaring at Danny. "Would you let her get away with that?"

"Yes if I started it and yes because she's a girl. I don't know if you know this but real men don't hit girls! Or didn't your mum tell you that one!"

Brandon seemed to swell with indignation, "Who told you about it then Danny you don't have a…."

Danny's whole demeanour changed and he was face to face with Brandon, "You want to start on me now, is that it? Go ahead!"

Alice's eyes widened, she didn't want anyone fighting for her or over her! She put her hand on Danny's forearm, "C'mon Danny we'll just go yeah?"

"Listen to her Danny, you think you could actually win?" Brandon hissed.

Danny moved even closer to Brandon getting right up into his face, "You think I couldn't?"

Alice yanked his arm so he was a step away from Brandon, "Danny, c'mon you said you'd walk me home."

Danny finally looked at Alice and read the unspoken plea in her eyes. He took a step away from Brandon and picked up his bag jerkily. As he turned to leave he turned his head keeping his eyes on Brandon not trusting him to not hit him from behind. When they were in the distance Danny finally turned his head to see Alice had her head bowed. "You ok?" he asked going in his bag and pulled out a bottle of lucozade and offered it to her.

"It's fine." she said declining the drink.

"It's ok if you want it, I have two." and he pulled out another grinning.

Alice felt the feeling in her stomach again and realised they were butterflies, so much stronger than before. She flipped open the cap and took a drink trying to chase them away. "He won't go after you now will he?"

"Awww Alice worried about me?" he asked cockily. "If I say he will are you going to protect me?"

"Forget I asked." she drawled, she hated when boys acted like that, there was nothing attractive about it at all!

He heard her tone and backtracked, "Sorry I don't know I do that." he admitted, a sheepish expression on his face.

He looked so cute Alice forgave him instantly. "Well?"

"He might." he shrugged answering her question then took a long drink of his bottle. "I'm not really bothered."

"Thank you." she told him as they came off the field and walked down a residential street, "He was kind of angry."

Danny shook his head, "There is no excuse for hitting girls ever, even if they are bigger than you, which you will never be!"

"Hey!" she swatted his arm, "Little things come in better bundles!"

"Not entirely true, you can fit a whole lotta awesome when you're as tall as I am!"

They laughed as they walked.

"Anyway like I said, no excuse, ever!" smiled at her.

"Your mum tell you that?" she enquired softly, wanting to know what Brandon had been about to say.

"No." he shook his head, "it's just obvious." he was being evasive so Alice let the subject drop.

They chatted until they reached her house, "Anyway this is me, thank, I guess that's three I owe you now?"

He laughed and tingles ran down her spine. "Well since I live two doors away from you I'll make sure I collect." he sent her a smile. "See you later Alice." then he walked down the street,.

Alice watched him go into his garden, when he was out of her sight her heart began to slow down into a regular rhythm, she had even known it was racing! Alice found a smile blooming on hr face, she was going to make sure she seen him again, to pay him back what she owed him of course…..

* * *

The wedding ring remained in her hand as the memory came to an end, everything came to an end, it was the story of her life. Once again she tried to tell herself it was time to let go of the ring, ten years had passed since her divorce, it was passed time! But she knew she couldn't, she couldn't bring herself to destroy the lat connection she had to Danny, she couldn't forget him.

Something big had came between them, something even she couldn't think about. After it happened she and Danny just stopped talking, she had left their flat needing space. He didn't call or visit once in that time and neither did she. After a few weeks and no word she began to get on with her life, sure they would cross paths eventually and work things out, then she had been accepted at a university in Liverpool she had applied to but instead of calling him she posted a letter on the day she left telling him she was moving and started divorce proceedings. It had been the wrong thing to do, she knew that, she should have went to him, talked things through. He had been such a massive part of her life and cutting herself off completely felt wrong.

Now they were hundreds of miles apart and sometimes all she could do was think about him, wonder if the things she did were right, would they still be together? What could they have become? It had been so long since she felt complete, he had been right there by her side ever since she was 13, keeping her safe, being her support when she needed it, her shoulder to cry on and it had been hard standing on her own two feet at first. She got used to it though and that was when the distance between her and Danny really began to grow, it was harder to approach him so she didn't try and neither did he. They were over! And with that final thought she placed the ring back in the box and locked the safe placing her case back in its spot.

She left her room quickly needing another distraction. She found one in the form of Fatani, he paled when he saw her but she didn't notice.

"Fatani, hello, I have that invoice you need, I just need to get it from my room."

"Um, no, I mean yes." he stammered.

They stood in silence, Alice wondering why he was acting so weirdly, he was sweating profusely, his forehead dripping!

"Nomsa said you needed to talk to me about something." she prompted.

Fatani scratched his forehead obviously in some sort of mental pain. "I um, well are you, erm, see I…."

"C'mon Fatani spit it out!" She'd never seen him so frazzled before!

"I have a bar!" he blurted then cursed himself.

"Yeah I know, it's a very nice bar, I like it." she nodded.

"Well do you want to go?"

Alice frowned and studied him, "You want me to come and work for you?" she asked.

He shook his head, "Do you want to go to my bar with me?"

"Sure, I'll sort the others and we'll come down for a few later."

"Just you." he squeaked.

"Me alone?" now she was confused, "Why?"

"Like for a date?"

It seemed Alice was really slow on the uptake today. "With who?"

"Me." he breathed.

She studied him again, "You want to go out with me?"

"It seems so." he replied dryly.

Alice couldn't stop staring, Fatani? He was a great friend but as she looked at him she saw him as a slightly crazy but sweet younger brother, someone she needed to look out for, take care of, she couldn't date him! What if he tried to kiss her? It would be like kissing family! "Fatani have you really thought this through?"

She saw his eyes flick towards the kitchen and closed her eyes a second as it occurred to her what was going on. When she opened them he was nodding. "I have."

"You know I have been thinking of finding some nice men to go out with…."

She saw pure fear flash across his face.

She decided to let him off the hook, this wasn't his fault. "But I don't think we'd be compatible. Thanks for the offer though."

Fatani's relief was palatable. "Ok Alice."

"I'll just get you that invoice and let you get back to your bar, I'm sure you're busy." and after she handed him the bill and he left she found Nomsa and Caroline locked in a discussion at the kitchen table. The anger overflowed and before she knew it she was shouting. "Shame on both of you for using Fatani!"

Nomsa and Caroline looked at her shocked at her outburst.

"I have no idea what the poor man would have done if I had agreed to go on a date with him? Actually I think he may have packed his bags and moved to another country! He was terrified, he may have actually passed out had I agreed! If I want a date with anyone I am capable of doing it myself ok! Don't meddle in my life!"

"Alice we only want what's best for you." Caroline told her.

"And what's best for me is getting a man who doesn't want to be with me to ask me on a date neither of us wants?" Alice was exasperated. "What IS best for me is letting me live my life how I choose, not blackmailing someone into going out with me! No more! Am I clear?"

Both Nomsa and Caroline nodded reluctantly and Alice left them alone.

"You were right, Fatani was a bad idea." Caroline whispered.

"Alice needs someone stronger, someone who'll fight for her." Nomsa added. "Someone who isn't scared of her."

"She doesn't let anyone in close enough to do that." Caroline shook her head. "Keep looking, we'll have to be more careful, she'll be watching us!"

* * *

Tea that night was a stilted affair, no one really talking. Poor Dupe was caught in the middle. After barely touching her meal Alice declared that after doing her final rounds in the surgery she was having a long bath so anyone who needs the bathroom was to get sorted now. All she wanted was for this day to be over and she filled the bath the room filling with steam and the scent of her bath salts. Caroline called her name from the veranda. "Alice!"

Alice rubbed her forehead. She had asked to be left alone! "Caroline I'm busy!"

"You have a visitor."

If this was another potential date she was gonna blow her stack. "Can't they comeback later? Ask them to leave a number!" yes this was rude but she was eager just to draw a line under today and move on!

"They say you know them but its impossible, I've never seen them before. They say they're family…."

Alice frowned, could it be? No….. before she knew what she was doing she ran for the door, yanked it open and was out of the bathroom, down the hallway and out of the front door in a flash. When she saw her visitor she couldn't believe it….

**A/N ahhh so who is the mystery visitor? and why are they here? hmmmm you will find out soon!  
Straight up unchecked so any mistakes are due to that, anyone who has updaed recently i'll get to them 2moro xxx**


	3. What Are YOU Doing Here?

When Alice saw her visitor she couldn't believe it, the brown hair, chocolate eyes, the pissed off attitude...

"Alice…." Caroline gestured wearily.

"Rosie..." Alice gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Rosie was slouched in her chair, in jeans and a superdry jumper, her hair tied back. She was practically hanging off the end of the seat, arms rested casually on the sides, Rosie began to giggle uncontrollably. Alice took a step towards her and was so overpowered by the scent of alcohol she wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"You should see your face Alice, weren't you expecting me?" began to laugh more.

Alice crossed her arms, "Are you drunk?"

Rosie shrugged and gestured wildly, "Could be, the bottle of vodka in mums cupboard was really strong!" her eyes widened in the last two words almost making a point.

Alice swore and pulled Rosie to her feet, "You're only thirteen what are you doing drinking at all never mind vodka!"

Rosie pointed a finger and jabbed Alice's chest, "You don't tell me what to do!" then began to sway. "Mum says I'm like you." she added a sneer, "Then again I'm not screwing a fifteen year old boy like YOU did!" Rosie wobbled more. "She thinks I am though! You fucked her head up with what you did and left ME to deal with it! Well guess what Alice, I'm your problem now, her words!" and jabbed her chest with her finger once again

Caroline and Nomsa were looking between them, "Alice is this girl…."

Rosie interrupted, "You're about to ask if we are related aren't you?" and staggered towards Caroline, "Do you think I look like her?"

"Rosie….." Alice warned.

"We look VERY alike don't we?" Rosie fell against a wall.

Caroline studied the girl and had to admit although Rosie's hair was a shade lighter than Alice's and the eyes were completely wrong, looking at her, Alice was right there in her face, in her mannerisms.

"We could be mother and daughter don't you think?" Rosie smiled and she resembled Alice more.

Caroline's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Alice did the only thing she could do, she grasped Rosie by the arm and pushed her through the front door. Looked back at the stunned faces of Dupe Caroline and Nomsa. "I'll explain later, right now I need to get her sorted." as soon as she was inside she found water spilling out of the bathroom door. Grasping a handful of Rosie's jacket by the shoulder she pushed her towards the kitchen, ran into the bathroom and turned the tap off throwing towels on the floor to soak up the water. Alice retuned to the kitchen to sober Rosie up and find out what the hell was going on! Rosie was fumbling around the kitchen looking around.

"Nice place." Rosie said tripping over a chair.

"Sit down!" Alice ordered and began brewing a pot of coffee.

"You haven't changed, always trying to tell me what to do, I don't listen to you!" Rosie spat belligerently sounding exactly like the teenager she was.

Alice turned to look at her, "Either you sit down in that chair or I'll put you in it and you're a scrawny thirteen year old girl so don't doubt I could do it!"

Rosie bristled, "Go on then, I dare you!"

Alice rubbed her face and she saw the triumphant grin on Rosie's face and knew at that moment her mother had followed through on nothing and if she wanted Rosie to listen she was going to have to stick to her guns so she lowered her hand stomped over grasped Rosie by the shoulders, drove her backwards and sat her down. Knelt down and they were face to face, "Stay there ok!" then she got up to retrieve her phonebook. She was fully expecting for Rosie to get back up and try to kick her ass, but surprisingly she remained seated.

"What you doin?" Rosie asked speech slurred.

"I'm trying to find your dads phone number, I need to talk to him." this was an old number please let it work!

Rosie made a face, "Mum said you haven't spoke to my dad in years, she said its your turn!"

Alice rubbed her forehead tiredly, "Ok yes me and your dad don't get along but I know if he needs you he'll come straight away!" she dialled the number only to find it had been disconnected, she swore and rounded the table so she was stood opposite Rosie. "You can't stay here." she breathed.

Rosie smiled maliciously, "They don't know do they? Your perfect little family don't know your dirty little secret." she smiled wider and Alice saw her father in her face. The expression on his face when….Alice blanked her mind and had to look away

"Well they're gonna find out now!" Rosie added.

Alice was bent over the table looking at Rosie intensely, hands braced against the wood, "I don't have to put up with this crap from you ok!" her eyes flaming, "Now shut up while I think!"

"Mum says we look alike when we're angry, do I look like you Alice?"

"No actually!" Alice retorted, "You look like your dad!" then tried to ignore her knowing that Rosie was only trying to bait her. "I'm going to let you stay here tonight to let you sleep off what you've drank but tomorrow you're going home, I'll ring mum tell her you're safe."

Rosie laughed again crossing her arms, "She really didn't get in touch with you did she? You think she's still in the country? Don't you get it yet? Mum chucked me out, she's back in the UK by now. She left at 5am this morning, didn't leave no contact number or nothing I'm your responsibility now! Before she left I managed to swipe the vodka from her bag, I was kinda worried about stuff til that made all my cares fall away. Then I remember what mum said and I knew I could come here, I know your secret!"

Alice paced a little while then halted, "Fine you can stay until I find mum." then she lowered her voice. "But only if you agree to keep your mouth shut about the past!"

"But your past is so colourful." Rosie swang on her chair and it wobbled.

"Rosie!" Alice hissed reaching the end of her tether then collected herself while she made the coffee. Rosie shrugged when Alice placed the mug in front of her. "Drink it, I'll bring on the others to introduce you. Be polite!"

Rosie rolled her eyes and made a face at Alice's back. She picked up the coffee and wrinkled her nose at how strong it smelled, no way was she drinking that mud!

Alice went outside and gestured for Dupe, Caroline and Nomsa to follow her, "Mind the floor I left the taps on in the bathroom I'll clean it up when I have Rosie's room sorted."

"Who is she?" Caroline whispered as Rosie's form came into view.

"She looks like you." Nomsa added.

Alice felt a tension headache take root as she entered the kitchen and saw Rosie's devious expression. When everyone was in the kitchen Alice began to make introductions, "Dupe, Caroline and Nomsa this is my…."

Rosie stood up abruptly, "Hello everyone I'm Rosie Collins and Alice is my mother!"

Alice swore profusely, "Rosie!"

"And you told me to be polite!" Rosie chided Alice. "Have you just heard half the words out of your mouth? What would mother say?" and Rosie sat back down.

"Everyone Rosie is not my child but my little sister!" and glared at her.

Rosie glared back petulantly.

The other three in the room were looking between Alice and Rosie, coming to the obvious conclusion, there was no denying they were alike, apart from the obvious differences they were like two peas in a pod, same facial expressions, same voice and tone. Alice could see the cogs turning, especially from Caroline, she was doing the maths and coming to the same conclusion everyone else would. She covered her eyes with her hand.

Rosie on the other hand was just warming up it seemed, not only satisfied with planting the seed of doubt she had to nurture it too.

"Have you ever had a child Alice?" Rosie challenged.

Alice looked at her with a dark expression.

"Have you ever been married?" Rosie added tone filled with venom.

Alice pointed down the hallway, "Get out of here now or I swear to god…."

"What?" Rosie stood up again. "Do they not know about me? Do they know about Danny? Your husband?"

Caroline and Nomsa's eyes bugged. "HUSBAND?"

Rosie looked supremely pleased with herself and Alice found her hands fisting by her sides she was almost shaking she was so angry.

Dupe took pity on Alice and took both Nomsa and Caroline by an arm and guided them from the kitchen leaving Alice and Rosie alone.

"You are going to go after them and tell them the truth!" Alice hissed. "I am your SISTER Rosie, I am NOT your mother! You are going to tell them that!"

Rosie shrugged, "Ok, I'll tell them that you told me to tell them I'm your sister."

Alice closed her eyes her breathing audible. "I'm in no mood for this!"

"Yeah? Well neither am I am and I'm the one who had been lied to my whole freaking life!" and Rosie kicked the chair.

"Lied to?" Alice gasped.

"You walked out and left me with her!" Rosie shouted.

"Rosie I….." Alice shook her head. "Why are you doing this?"

"Maybe coz you abandoned me, I needed my mother!"

"Rosie you had your mum ok I'm sorry I left you but I had to get away, everything was so messed up. Do you remember the last time I seen you?"

Rosie crossed her arms and looked away.

"I told you I was sorry….."

"You told me you'd try to see me! Why do that if you're not my mum!"

"Coz you're my baby sister. There was stuff with your dad back then….."

"Yeah I know all about Danny!" she sneered.

Alice paced in the kitchen, "Rosie I don't know the lies mum told you but…."

"Was she lying about Danny? About you two being married? I remember him you know, he always used to bring me chocolate bars and tickle me until my face was red!"

"Rosie you were barely three when we divorced, I hadn't seen him in at least six months before that, we didn't go anywhere together for another six months before the split so I doubt you remember him."

"Oh so that's where he is? Out of your life like I was, tell me was I not his, is that why you didn't keep me!"

Alice covered her face with her hands.

"You're not as perfect as you like to make yourself out to be!"

"I've never pretended to be perfect!" Alice growled then shook her head. They were just going around in circles and it was doing her head in. "I'll sort you a room you're drunk. We'll talk in the morning."

"You think my attitude will be better then?"

"It damn well better be." Alice muttered under her breath. Then gestured to the hallway. Rosie followed her down and Alice took her into a room and took out some bedding from the drawers in there. "I'll go get your bags, have you had anything to eat yet?"

"Awww is mummy worried about me?" Rosie sneered.

"No, your big sister is worried about you. So have you eaten or not?"

"I'm not hungry." Rosie answered dismissively.

"Fine! I'll put some spare towels in the bathroom incase you want to shower." Alice left the room, she was about to close the door when Rosie blocked it with her foot. "I'm not going to make life easy for you Alice, mum whatever you are to me!"

Alice rubbed her face tiredly feeling like the weight of the world was weighing down heavily on her. She was painfully aware she was going to have to explain this to her housemates and then find her mum and sort school and what not for Rosie in the meantime…."We'll talk tomorrow, get some sleep." Alice requested feeling beaten.

She had only taken two footsteps down the hallway when she heard Rosie's bedroom door close. She halted bowed her head hands clasping it tightly, barely resisting the urge to have a panic attack right there in the hallway. Her heart was pounding, she was sweating and she felt breathless. A multitude of thoughts were swirling around in her head like a vortex. What on earth had gone on with Rosie to make her act like that? I mean the worst was drinking at thirteen! What? And why was she angry at her? Alice needed to get to the root of this problem, unfortunately the only person who could answer these questions didn't really want to sit down and have a civil conversation with Alice right now, all she felt like doing was spit lies and tell everyone in close proximity all her secrets…..and that was why Alice had to get her out of her and soonish! There were skeletons in her closet she wanted to make sure were kept hidden!

Once again it seemed Alice needed to find an escape and she had one sanctuary….as she exited the house she noticed the veranda was dark, Dupe sat on the two seater beside two glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

"I figured you needed this." he told her gruffly raising a glass to her.

Alice looked in his eyes and saw nothing but concern in his them so she took the glass and sat beside him. The night was quiet and Alice exhaled tiredly looking into her glass. She swished the liquid watching the ripples lap at the edges of the glass they smoothed and disappeared leaving the liquid like before. Secrets were like that she mused. They caused ripples in your life, eventually it smoothed over and you returned to normal, unlike the boundaries of the glass though life had no such barriers and secrets could come back to haunt you causing a tidal wave of hurt. Alice down the drink in one gulp ignoring the burning sensation in the back of her throat.

Dupe lifted the bottle, Alice nodded and he refilled her glass. "I told Caroline and Nomsa no questions." he told her gruffly.

She smiled at him though it didn't reach her eyes. "Thanks, I'm not quite sure how to explain it…."

Dupe shook his head and took a drink from his glass, "The truth is sometimes crazier than fiction."

Alice looked into the distance, at the land she had been admiring just this morning. At the moment it felt like a cage she couldn't escape from, Rosie being the chains which shackled her. "I have no idea why she's doing this….." came out on a breath, her face confused.

"Who knows why women do anything, you're all crazy!" Dupe told her trying to lighten the situation.

Alice bowed her head.

Humour wasn't working so he dropped it, "Maybe she's just angry." Dupe suggested. "Kids obviously got a temper…."

"She always did, even as a child, she takes after her dad that way. When he lost his temper…." Alice shook her head again trying to dispel painful memories.

Alice saw a question in his eyes but respected that he kept it to himself. "Go on Dupe, you can ask me."

"No…" he began and gulped another swallow.

"You're the closet thing I have to a father here Dupe, go on."

Alice felt the battle within him then he sighed, "So you were married?"

Alice looked at him frowning, she had been expecting a question about Rosie's parentage. "Aren't you going to ask about Rosie?"

Dupe shook his head and poured himself another drink. "You say you're her sister so I believe you. I cans believe it too, I expect when you have kids they'll be quiet little things, Rosie is a spitfire, far too firey to have come from you."

Alice raised an eyebrow, "This you saying I'm soft?"

Dupe shook his head, "Far from it, but Rosie right now is hitting out hard to really hurt, deep down I don't think you're capable of that, you like to think you are but…." he shook his head.

Alice sighed, "My mum fell pregnant with her when I was 16, she wasn't planned, or at least I don't think so. I think mum was under the impression I would do it all for her, being older you know but me and Danny had our own stuff going on."

"Danny is your husband?"

Alice nodded, "We married when I was seventeen." she smiled wistfully and her eyes were suddenly lost in the past. "He looked great in his suit! Coz we were young I usually saw him in jeans, chinos or jogging bottoms stuff like that but he really made an effort to make the day special. It was one of the best days of my life."

Dupe studied her, "So what went wrong then?"

Alice was still lost in her memories, "We made the mistake of growing up." when she looked at him he saw the sadness in her eyes. All she saw in his was how perplexed he was by her statement so she elaborated. "Things are so easy when you're a kid, your parents feed you, clothe you, make sure your warm, dry that sort of thing. Suddenly though I was a wife and it was our responsibility to do all this stuff. Its very easy to be in love when you have no worries. We had wants and dreams of being together but we also wanted things separately like Uni and what not but we had a household to support. We lasted three years before it all fell apart. I haven't seen him in ten years, he could be remarried by now, have a family…."

"Why not get in touch?" Dupe suggested breaking off her thoughts.

Alice looked at him filled with doubt. "And say what? Hi, you might remember me I'm your ex wife and….." then Alice shrugged. "What do I have? Nothing. Anything we have to say should have been said long ago."

"How about just to say hello? You were friends once right? I think you need to do this Alice, for yourself more than anything."

Alice shook her head slowly, the idea appealed to her but she couldn't. "Too much water under the bridge now Dupe, and even if I could the number I have is wrong and I don't know where to send a letter."

Dupe nodded and sipped his drink thoughtfully. "You sound like you miss him when you talk about him."

Alice exhaled, "I do miss him," finally admitting it. "Or I think I miss his memory, the good parts of him. We both changed so much after we married though, made decisions….."

The deep sadness in her eyes made Dupe pause, he wasn't going to press her to talk anymore, this was straying into territory that was obviously very painful for her, instead he patted her back, a fatherly gesture. "I'm always here if you need to let off steam."

"Thanks Dupe and thank you for not judging me, I got a lot of stick off my mother when my marriage failed."

Dupe raised his hands, "There is no judgement here at all, we were all young once, we all thought we knew it all and were invincible and we all wanted to prove the whole world wrong. There are many things in my past I'm not proud of but you learn to live with them and move on."

"What if you can't move on though?" Alice whispered staring intensely into the distance. "What if there is this one mistake which haunts your every waking moment?"

Dupe was quiet for a while then turned her so she was facing him and spoke with surprising logic. "Then you reconcile yourself with the fact that you did the right thing at that time in your life. It had to have been or you wouldn't have done it."

Alice seemed to fold in on herself, Dupe wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face into his side. Dupe held her tight wishing that in some way he could make this all better, this kid didn't deserve this. "Try not to worry too much huh?" he told her softly. "We all miss our ex's once or twice and this stuff with Rose will go away eventually, then everything can go back to normal."

Alice had her eyes closed, face still pressed into Dupes ribs, trying so hard to believe that everything he was saying was true….unfortunately she had the feeling that all this was just the beginning.

**A/N Ah so Rosie has turned up! And she seems to not like Alice very much. Do you believe what Rosie is saying? Or is Alice lying? Mother or sister? Hmmmm. Danny still isn't there either...more to come! Awwww Dupe and Alice had a little moment at the end too :) x**


	4. Are You Kidding Me?

**Quick Recap - A thirteen year old Rosie turned up and told everyone she is Alice's daughter but Alice claims she's her sister…**

**(X)**

Alice's alarm clock shrieked at her the following morning alerting her to the start of a new day. She was lain on her stomach and her hand blindly whacked on her nightstand for the offending object. She managed to knock it to the floor but it failed to silence it so she was forced to open her eyes and retrieve it. She slid across her mattress and opened her eyes to peer over the edge. As soon as the bright sunlight in the room hit her eyes she felt a sharp pain begin to throb, she groaned and buried her face in the mattress until it passed. When she felt able to she peered again to see the bell alarm clock rattling from side to side angrily. She reached down picked it up and flicked the switch. It quieted immediately and Alice smiled snuggling back under her covers wanting to return to the serenity of sleep and she managed that…..until her phone began to vibrate against her dresser. Her eyes came open again and she barely restrained a growl of frustration, pulling herself from bed she padded over to ignore the call. When she picked it up she saw it was Vanessa…..why would she be calling her at seven am? She connected the call, "You better have a damn good reason for calling me at this time!" Alice said in lieu of a greeting.

"Well good morning to you, what a ray of sunshine you are this morning." Vanessa told her unusually chipper.

"Right I'm disconnecting….."

"Sorry!" Vanessa laughed, "I have a vet situation and my vet needs help."

Alice groaned her body deflating, all she wanted was to go to bed. "What is it? Can I help over the phone?"

"My giraffe is having real problems delivering and I need you, it's the same problem your giraffe had."

Alice was awake properly now, not totally alert but coffee should do the trick. "I'm on my way, have some coffee ready for me will you?"

"Rough night?" Vanessa asked.

"Not exactly." Alice breathed, "I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks for this Alice."

"Don't mention it." she murmured after disconnecting the call. She went in her wardrobe pulling out her clothes for the day. Her morning shower was going to have to wait, animals in distress didn't always pick the most opportune moments.

After pulling a brush through her hair and tying it back she left her room to find the curious faces of Nomsa and Caroline waiting for her. By their expressions they were full of questions and Alice was actually thankful Vanessa had rang her as she needed time to think about what she was going to say to them. "Vanessa needs me at Mara so I'll have to skip breakfast. I don't imagine Rosie will be up before I get back but if she is tell her to stay put, there are things we need to sort out."

"About Rosie…." Caroline began.

"No time, sorry a giraffe is in need of my skills." and she turned and waltzed out of the house knowing if she didn't get out soon both the women would have her hog tied to a chair torturing all the information out of her and God knew they were merciless!

She made it to Mara and the pens in record time and saw the giraffe in distress lowering. "Elevate her neck! And get more hay in here!" Alice ordered pointing to the area. Her whole focus was on the animal in front of her, the issues of her little sister completely forgotten.

* * *

Alice collapsed back onto a bed of hay and exhaled tiredly. She tore off her gloves and threw them in the used utensils bucket someone had fetched. She had felt like fate had been against them today but somehow she had managed it, mother and baby were fine, mum was even helping her little one to its feet. It had been incredibly tough going but as the little one stood there gingerly on its spindly legs she was reminded of why she did this job. Sometimes, against the odds, miracles happened. Vanessa stood beside her and put her hand on her shoulder, "You're a genius, I was sure we were going to lose both of them! Cooper could learn a lot from you."

Alice dragged herself to her feet, "Cut him some slack he's just a kid."

"He's the same age as you and graduated eighteen months before you did."

He probably had more distractions at Uni than she did. Alice had used Uni as her distraction from her divorce. She didn't answer just exited the pens heading for Mara's surgery.

"Sorry I got you out of bed," Vanessa said following her. "It's not like you to still be in bed at that time, you're usually up with the chickens."

Alice glanced at her, "My baby sister showed up rather unexpectedly last night rip roaring drunk! I didn't get much sleep."

"You have a little sister?" Vanessa asked as they entered the vets building.

"Yep." Alice discarded the used materials in the biohazard box. "She's 13 named Rosie and already I want to kill her! Why do teenagers have to be complete brats?"

"Coz they're teenagers!" Vanessa laughed. "At least Grace has a friend now."

"Don't count on it, Rosie isn't staying." and turned to look at her friend. "I have had her less than 12 hours and I'm tearing my hair out! My mum can have her back! She's already told Nomsa and Caroline I'm her mother! And they don't know whether or not to believe her coz we look alike."

"Whoa!" Vanessa breathed.

"And…."

"What?"

Alice shook her head, "You're gonna find out anyway." she sighed. "She told them about my ex husband Danny."

Vanessa eyes bugged, "Ex husband? You kept that one quiet!"

Alice shrugged and leant back against the cupboards, "We were young, seventeen, we divorced when I was twenty. I don't like to talk about him."

"Because he's an idiot and it causes you mental pain that you were stupid enough to marry him in the first place?"

"No." and her eyes seemed to be full of pain. "Because it hurts." and because once upon a time she had loved him almost insanely and had believed that they'd be together forever.

Vanessa scrutinised her, "Its been almost ten years and you're still in love with the guy?"

"No no I'm not in love with him I just….he was my first love and everything was so good and somehow we lost it." Alice protested.

Vanessa disagreed. "I don't think so Alice."

"How can you love someone you haven't seen in ten years? We were kids back then, he'd be a different person by now, I'm different."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Not this heart." and Alice picked up her vet box.

"Is he the reason you haven't dated then?"

Alice made a gesture of unknown. "Maybe, to be honest I haven't wanted to date, haven't felt the need for companionship or met anyone who made me want to change my life for them. I've fell in a rut I think I measure people against his memory and no one can win a challenge with a memory."

Vanessa grinned, "I know some nice real guys if you want to go out." she nodded still smiling. "Trust me once you get a real man you'll forget your ex in a heartbeat, I don't even remember my ex's name!"

"In a little while maybe, I have all this Rosie stuff to deal with, I don't want to scare him off before we even go on a date!"

Vanessa chuckled, "She really that bad?"

"You have no idea." and Alice exhaled. "I better be getting back to her, I dread to think what she'll do to Nomsa and Caroline!"

"Ring me if you need me!"

"I just might take you up on that," Alice admitted, "You have more experience raising a teenage girl than me. Oh and get in touch if mum or baby looks unwell." then Alice left the surgery and climbed in the truck which was parked.

"I'm here Alice." Vanessa reminded standing in the door way of the surgery.

Alice nodded, "Thanks." and waved then the truck roared to life and she drove away.

* * *

Nomsa and Caroline sat on the veranda deep in conversation, "What do you think of the two men who arrived this morning?" Caroline asked.

"Perfect for Alice." Nomsa murmured. "They are real men and you know they'd fight for the woman they love!"

"Which one should we set Alice up with then?" Caroline asked.

"The tall one was wearing a ring I think so it look like it'll have to be the other one. It's a shame, the tall one had such nice eyes. Mind you I'm not sure the ring was on his wedding ring finger though!"

Caroline nodded, "I asked them to come up in an hour or so to meet everyone if they wanted they both seemed nice when I picked them up."

"Now to see if Alice feels the same, we'll have Alice do the game drives and tours, maybe even see if we can get her and Leon alone, his name is Leon isn't it?"

Nomsa nodded and Caroline smiled, "She'll have to fall for him!"

"One step at a time Caroline, she needs to meet him yet and there is Rosie to factor in!"

"Ah yes!" Caroline breathed. "A teenage daughter might deter him." she frowned. "You really think Rosie is Alice's child?

"I have no idea, Alice is so secretive though and if she is Alice's then she was what? Fifteen when she had her, that's something you'd want to keep secret, maybe her dad is the one she married!"

Caroline nodded then made a face, "I can't see Alice giving her child away to her mother to raise and then leaving her when she left."

"Like I say she was young when she had her, the damage had already been done what was she supposed to do tell Rosie when she was four or five that she wasn't her sister but her mum? That would mess her up!" Nomsa told her, "Look there is no denying the kid looks like Alice, acts like Alice I can even hear Alice in her voice. It just seems to be a little too much for them to be sisters."

Caroline sighed, "That is a big spanner in our plan. Do you think we should wait? Not to mention the fact that Anders told us to back off."

"What is Leon is Alice's one and she misses out on love because Rosie is here?" Nomsa asked. "We'll just have to tread carefully."

Alice's truck appeared in the distance.

"Remember, Anders said we aren't to ask her anything." Caroline grumbled.

The truck pulled in and Alice climbed out covered in blood, hay and bodily fluids. Caroline twisted her face, "What on earth?"

"Perfectly natural." Alice said and grinned in triumph. "Mother and baby are doing well. Score!" she sobered. "Is Rosie up?"

"Nope and her room has been as quiet as a tomb." Nomsa replied.

Alice wiggled her eyebrows. "Well I think its time to remedy that don't you?" and she walked past the ladies into the house and straight into the room Rosie occupied. She turned her phone to its full volume and found a very noisy song to play right beside her head. After pressing play the song started abruptly and Rosie jumped up eyes wide. The light blinded her so she squinted her eyes to find Alice smiling at her arms crossed. "Oh its you." Rosie murmured and lay back down, her back to Alice. She was holding her head which was starting to pound.

"I thought I'd give you a warning, we need to talk, study thirty minutes!"

"Whatever!" Rosie muttered burying her face in a pillow.

"I mean it!" Alice told her icily. "Thirty minutes is enough time for you to shower, change and dose yourself up on coffee."

Rosie snorted although it wasn't altogether convincing.

"The tablets for your hangover are in the kitchen, hopefully what you're suffering now will stop you drinking but I doubt it."

"Do me a favour Alice and….." spewed expletives at her.

Alice narrowed her eyes, "Mum is getting you back if I have to find her and drag her back to you!" why their mum left her to Alice was a bloody mystery!

Rosie didn't reply so Alice counted this as a victory, she left Rosie's room and retrieved a dry towel and clean clothes. She enjoyed a hot shower letting the water unknot the tension in her muscles, her carefree façade seemingly working, well Nomsa and Caroline hadn't asked her any questions! When that was over and she was dressed in some clean khaki's and a pink blouse she felt much more human and able to handle whatever Rosie could throw at her. She walked from the bathroom rubbing her hair with a towel.

"Alice is that you finished in the shower? Our guests are here." Nomsa called.

Alice had never been one for dealing with the guests, she much preferred to communicate with animals rather than people but she best get out there and say hello, they were paying to be here after all! She walked to the front door, as she passed Rosie's door she pounded on it and shouted "Up!" and then continued to the front door still rubbing her hair with the towel. She could hear Caroline talking about her,

"Here's our vet Alice, she would have been here to meet you but there was an animal emergency in the neighbouring reserve and Alice won't let an animal down." Alice rolled her eyes at the way Caroline made her sound.

"That's ok." a male voice said, "Its my favourite way to greet a lady, right from the shower."

Oh God an arrogant one? Really? Alice hated him already! She walked through the front door she had yet to get her glimpse at the guests as her towel obscured her eyes.

"Alice come meet out guests." Nomsa said.

"Sorry, had an emergency this morning." the towel fell from her face and her eyes found one of her guests. Her smile fell and the towel slipped from her grasp fluttering to the floor. She suddenly had a headache the size of Africa. He was smiling at her and it felt like she had been kicked in the chest by a hippo. "Oh my god its you!" she managed to gasp.

The smile soon left his face too, an identical shock was written all over his face.

"Alice this is…." Caroline began.

"Danny." Alice finished for her. "Danny Trevanion."

Caroline frowned at her, "You know him?"

While she was still shocked that Danny was stood there in front of her another feeling began to bubble at how unfair life was treating her, anger! "Are you bloody kidding me?" she yelped, "I mean c'mon! Who next? This is truly getting beyond a joke!" turned on her heel and stomped into the house.

Everyone turned to Danny for an explanation, her was just staring at the space Alice had occupied.

"Well?" his friend Leon asked expectedly.

Danny couldn't seem to muster an intelligent sentence. Alice! His Alice! All grown up! And WOW! I mean just... wow! She was stunning, so much more so than when they'd been kids, and he'd thought she couldn't ever look better to him! Her eyes seemed deeper, bluer. Her hair shorter but blacker and glossier. She was still as tiny as ever but he sensed a pent up passion that had been absent when they were younger, and her face, had she always been that beautiful…..

'She broke your heart remember?' A malicious voice in his head reminded. 'She left you!'

His face hardened as he remembered every painful thing she put him through, she asked him for the divorce, she went off to uni without even bothering to call him before! All previous thoughts of how good she looked were forgotten as pain cascaded through him. He finally faced the people who were staring at him. "I knew her a long time ago." he said flippantly.

"How well?" Leon asked knowingly.

Danny glared at him and crossed his arms.

Alice appeared from the front door composed although her eyes never strayed from straight ahead, away from Danny, "I apologise for my earlier reaction." she told Leon, "Welcome to Leopards Den, if there is anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable don't hesitate to let me know." she shook his hand and smiled warmly. "Enjoy your stay too." she told Danny dismissively earning herself a glare from Caroline. Alice had intended to go down to her surgery and escape until she remembered she had her hell on wheels little sister to deal with, she swore, turned and headed back inside.

"Seems like she can't make her mind up." Leon remarked.

"Alice has been under a lot of stress recently, why don't I take you to your hut so you can get settled." Caroline suggested. "Of course you are both still invited to dinner tonight."

Leon smiled and nodded in agreement, Danny was lost in thought.

**A/N bit of a shorter update from me tonight mostly a filler too, I have been busy as hell recently gah!  
Anyway Danny is finally at leopards Den along with Rosie (i smell trouble!) and Nomsa and Caroline are hell bent on setting her up with Leon. Will they find out Danny is her ex husband? Or will the two ladies think that Danny is so much better suited to Alice? Hmmm stay tuned! Especially when they find out why Danny and Leon are there!  
Will get to all your updated fics later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for reading x**


	5. Can't Stay

**A/N RECAP - Alice is having a stressful time of it recently, Nomsa and Caroline are determined to get Alice married within the next 18 months and are men hunting, 13 year old Rosie has turned up claiming that Alice is her mother and finally Danny Alice's ex husband has turned up out of the blue too…..ah drama drama drama! Never a dull moment haha**

* * *

Once Alice entered the house she heard Nomsa and Caroline making excuses for her odd behaviour, one part of her wanted to go out there and demand that they stop, she didn't have to explain her behaviour to anyone especially…..she shook her head, the only thing stopping her would be having to look at him again.

She was finding it hard to believe that he was actually here! She stopped by the shower and heard Rosie in there so she went into the kitchen to brew some coffee. He Hadn't changed a bit. Well, he'd filled out abit, he'd always been tall and gangly but the weight gave him a more balanced look. His eyes, they were the same moss green they had always been, clear and guileless so much so that he couldn't ever lie to her, his eyes gave him away every time. When they'd been together she had wanted to fall into them and stay there. His smile too, how could she have forgot how heart stopping his smile was…Oh God what was she doing? This wasn't a time for a stroll down memory lane! She had to get rid of him! It was bad enough having her kid sister here who was trying to wreck her life but her ex husband? That was just the icing on the cake, this was all liable to blow up in her face unless she sorted it and soon! The only solution was he had to go, Rosie too and the everything would go back to normal…..well after she convinced the two thorns in her side that she didn't need to be married! As she thought that Nomsa and Caroline entered the kitchen, an inquisitive gleam in their eyes.

"They can't stay here!" Alice said pointing to the door cutting off any questions they had.

"What do you mean they can't stay?" Caroline asked crossing her arms. "They've booked and paid….."

Alice saw her stance and knew that when it came to matters of the bookings she didn't have a leg to stand on. Caroline was all for the guests are always right even if they are wrong…..but this was her ex bleeding husband! "I don't care, refund them, they cannot stay here!" enunciating every word.

Nomsa studied her, "So you do have history with one of them? Danny is it?"

Alice closed her eyes and measured her breathing, "No, I just want them gone."

"Without a valid reason that is impossible." Caroline informed her.

Alice glared, "Look I own fifty percent of this place and I'm fully within my rights to remove people from my land!"

"Alice what is this about?" Nomsa asked softly, the woman they saw in front of them was never this emotional. Alice was always in control of how she felt, recently though they had seen her lose it too many times. "The last time we saw you this worked up was when you literally threw one of our customers from the land for hitting his wife."

Caroline paled, "Is that it? Is he an ex who mistreated you?"

"No, nothing like that Caroline." Alice assured rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Well?" Nomsa and Caroline asked together.

Alice bowed her head and sighed. "Just forget I said anything, I need to see to Rosie." and Alice left them in the kitchen wondering what on earth was going on.

* * *

Danny was pacing uncontrollably in his hut, he stopped every so often, looked up towards where he thought the house was and began again, after all these years…..

"Ok who is she and don't give me any of your I knew her in the past rubbish." Leon asked.

Danny looked at his business partner, he was short with dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. They had came over here looking for a game reserve to buy into. He had a teenage son named Max who was in boarding school. Danny was glad he didn't have to interact much with Max….

"Danny?" Leon asked again, "Who is she, disgruntled ex maybe?"

Danny shook his head and got back to pacing. She used to be so much to him….now she was just annoying, infuriating….too bloody beautiful! He shook his head again. "We have to go!"

Leon looked at him like he was crazy, "Not possible my friend." Leon told him going in the fridge and removing a can of pop. "We'll lose our deposit, plus I kind of like it here."

Danny halted, "I can't stay here with her!" his eyes flaming.

"Oh so its YOU who are the disgruntled ex?" Leon chuckled. "One night stand and you wanted more? Did she stand you up? There's loads of possibilities."

An image of Alice in her white dress filled his mind, quickly followed by the way her face contorted when she was angry, the way she would look at him at those times….. "I knew her in the past, its complicated."

"Ahhh." Leon said knowingly. "Complicated generally means messy." popped the tab on his drink, took a gulp and lay down on his bed. "Look mate, we're looking to buy into a business right? Well all you have to do is avoid her or better still say you're sorry, kiss and make up."

Danny crossed his arms. "I have nothing to say sorry for!" he snapped. She had walked out on him! She broke his heart! She had sorted out the divorce without even asking him if they were going to try to work it out!

"That's subjective, see I bet she sees things very differently. I'm not leaving, we've planned this too long." Leon told him bluntly. "You can go if you want."

Danny looked to the house again, "Of all the places in all of Africa I come here? To the one she owns. What are the odds?" in the past they had spoke about doing something like this together, he never actually thought….what? That she couldn't do it? Alice could do anything she set her mind to.

He sat down on his bed and put his face in his hands. There had never been a time when he hadn't loved her, even at the very end when he knew his marriage was dying he could have done anything to keep her with him, anything….

"You must have done something really bad to her to make her this angry at you…." Leon murmured breaking Dannys train of thought. "Mind you she's passionate, you can feel it. I wonder what it would take to really get her going…."

Danny narrowed his eyes not liking the jealousy he felt at someone talking about arousing Alice's passions. He had been an outlet for those once upon a time.

Leon noticed his face change and roared with laughter, "I knew it!" slapped his leg almost bent double. "She was a girl you were sweet on who knocked you back!"

Leon knew nothing! Once upon a time there had been a time if he asked Alice for anything she would have found a way to give it to him, all her firsts were his too. They had known each other inside out. It was when they lost all that that their marriage began to die. She had known he was keeping something from her and accused him of lying to her, accused him of not being able to trust her. From their wedding day they had promised to always love each other, always be there no matter what. How childish were they? They should have known not to make promises like that, they were impossible to keep.

"So what's you do wrong Danny? Tell me so I get her." and Leon wiggled his eyebrows.

"She likes arrogance." Danny drawled. "Act like the big man and you'll get her."

"Won't be hard…." Leon grinned then looked at him. "If you want I'll leave her alone." he must have picked up on at least a little bit of tension on Danny's part.

Danny pillowed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, "Alice and I are dead and buried…."

"So…."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore!" and Danny closed his eyes thinking of the past, of how arrogant he acted when they first met and how she seemed to pursue him from that day…..

* * *

**15 years ago**

It was 6am and Danny was dressing after his shower. He wasn't looking forward to delivering his newspapers this morning, because it was Sunday and they were going to be heavy….at the thought his bruised and aching ribs began to throb. As always no marks left anywhere people would see…Danny wouldn't know what he would say ifpeople saw them, he was over 6 foot, more than big enough to be able to take care of himself…. Rubbing his aching body he left his room picking up his high visability bags as he went.

After reaching the kitchen he grabbed the juice from the fridge and poured himself a glass and downed 2 painkillers hoping to dull the pain. After gulping his juice he rested his forehead against the fridge waiting for the pills to take effect. When the pain dulled slightly he figured this was the best he could hope for and he left his house to make the trek to the shop. As he walked he heard someone call his name, he turned to see Alice jogging towards him in jeans, a blue jumper her hair tied back. The first thing he did was check his watch, it was six thirty! What was she doing up at this time?

"Hey." she said smiling as she caught up to him, not even out of breath.

"Hi." he replied. "What you doing up so early?"

"Same as you, getting a paper." jiggled the money in her pocket.

"At 6am?"

She shrugged, "That's when you do it."

He smiled at her, "Yeah but this is my job."

"What can I say?" she asked. "My dad likes to read the news before its history."

Danny couldn't resist her eyes so full of humour and laughed, he felt his ribs protest and clutched them instinctively.

Alice frowned, blue eyes concerned "You ok?" and went to check his side.

Danny took a step back and wrapped an arm around that side. "Fine, I just…I fell out of bed this morning and hit my ribs." his mind fumbling for a moment.

"You know the moral of that story?"

"What? don't fall out of bed." he drawled.

"Nope, don't get in bed, you're obviously drawn to the floor." and she smiled at him widely.

He returned the smile, "I guess so." and they began to walk towards his shop. "If you want I'll drop off your paper for you, go back to bed, its early." he told her.

Alice shook her head. "Since I owe you three favours I could do this for you, for a week or two."

Danny looked at her sideways, "Or you're just trying to steal my job." he retorted playfully.

"He's onto me!" she declared dramatically, then grinned slowly. His breath caught, she looked so gorgeous he thought he was going to pass out….

"Hey Danny, you kind of need to breathe you know." she reminded.

He exhaled and his cheeks reddened.

"Anyway…" she said carrying on where they left off. "It was just an idea. I might need you with me for the first few days as I don't know the route. What do you think?"

He was quiet a moment before he spoke, "Would you consider me arrogant if I thought you were just looking for reasons to spend time with me?"

"Yes." she replied and looked at his as they walked. "But you'd be right."

His eyes widened and his cheeks reddened further, she was one of the most forward girls he had ever met!

"Can I help you then?" she asked nudging his arm.

He didn't deny her so she took it as an affirmative and smiled.

They arrived at the shop and he walked in, holding the door open for her. "Morning Andy." he said and walked up to the papers and began sorting them. "This is Alice, she'll be helping me a little while."

Alice waved and the man smiled at her, "No problem Danny."

Danny and Alice stood side by side, "You know I was only joking about the three favours Alice, you don't owe me anything." and picked up fifteen people newspapers.

"How many mail on Sunday?" she asked.

"Seven."

She counted them out, "I know I don't but well…you did save me from a fate worse than death and I'm grateful." and smiled at him again.

Danny saw the smile and his resistance was crumbling, her smile was just breathtaking! He looked at Andy who was nodding. "Fine, ok, you win!"

"For the next four weeks…." she began.

"Four?" Danny shook his head, "Two, at most!" he negotiated.

"I'll meet you in the middle, for the next three weeks I'll help you with your paperbound, see I'm not doing it alone, hence the three weeks."

He looked at her for the longest time and shook his head, "You do know I can't say no to you!" he told her.

Alice grinned, "Never admit that to a woman, it'll be your undoing." and while he sorted his papers into bags she bought two bottles of pop.

"Alice I'll get them." he said as she took them to the counter.

"Nope. I owe you a bottle of lucozade remember?"

He glared at her.

"And I know you'll take it coz you can't say no to me!" her eyes dancing with amusement.

He had a quick retort but it died when he saw how happy and animated she looked. He let it lie and picked up one of the bags, groaning when his sore ribs protested, funny he had forgot the pain when she was near.

"Wow Danny that must have been some fall." Alice remarked.

Andy looked at them, "You hurt yourself again Danny? You're a walking accident!"

"What can I say?" Danny murmured, "I'm clumsy." he went to pick up the other bag but Alice halted him and took it.

"Alice….." he began.

"I'll carry this one, I'm not as weak as I look." and she picked it up slinging it over her shoulder. "I have hidden muscles, they are so good even I can't find them!" she laughed, "But seriously you are sore."

She smiled at him so sweetly he felt the air in his body begin to disappear, this time he remembered to breathe.

"Lead the way" she asked and slid his bottle into the front of his bag.

* * *

Danny hadn't moved as he relived the memory it had been one of his favourites of them due to its simplicity. It was just two kids hanging out, none of the complications that being in a relationship brings. She had smiled at him so often that morning and every time he saw it he felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. She had been so perfect back then, so kind, so giving. Her smile had this way of making him feel better, especially when…..he broke off his thoughts. He never ventured too far back into those memories, in them he felt like he was nothing, worthless, useless….he jumped from the bed startling his friend. "I'm going for a walk."

"Don't go too far." Leon called as he walked down the steps of the hut. "We've been invited for tea remember."

Danny shrugged and began to move faster towards a random walking trail.

**A/N Danice's story seems to be unfolding little by little hmmmm Dannys home life didn't sound pleasant, but where did young Alice fit in with that?  
Sorry for the lack of update, illness and busyness are evil! Anyway next chapter is a short one but things start heating up very soon! Thanks for reading x**


	6. Just Be Civil

Alice stomped down to her surgery fists clenched tightly. If Rosie wasn't thirteen and family she'd…..reluctant to finish the though she released a calming breath, followed by another. How the hell they were related Alice had no idea! Had she been that obnoxious at thirteen? If so then her dad should have done away with her and be done with it! Unlike Rosie she hadn't had her mum at thirteen, she and her dad split when she was ten Alice decided she wanted to stay with her dad when she was eleven and from then on it was like she didn't exist. They had regained contact when Alice was sixteen and her mum had never missed an opportunity to make her feelings known, especially about Alice picking her dad over her.

Her dad on the other hand had been great especially since he'd had little involvement in raising her sin ce he worked away a lot. It had been awkward at first, he having no idea how to raise and almost teenage daughter they had settled though and she had learned that she preferred her dad. From being small she'd had the feeling that her mum didn't really want to know her and therefore didn't try, her dad tried at least, he took an interest in her hopes and dreams and helped all he could. Sadly her dad was no longer with her, he passed away when she was seventeen in an accident on the oil rigs, she'd been sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy and compensation from the rigs. To be honest the loss of her dad had been too steep a price to pay, she would give it all away just to see him once more. He had been there for her since the day her mum left and suddenly she was alone in the world.

She burst through the doors into her surgery finding the similarities between her and her dads situation almost amusing, here she was, having to somehow raise a thirteen year old girl. She had tried to get in contact with their mum but the phone just rang and rang. It seemed like their mother was avoiding her, and if her mother was hiding in the UK and didn't want to be found then Rosie was here for the duration…..and she had no idea what to do! She couldn't raise a teenager! She had to sort out her school, that started again in a few weeks and there was medical care and God knows what else. Maybe she should give Rosie some responsibility in the surgery, but what? She pondered this as she lifted a jackal from its cage surveying its injuries. A nest of these had been found by a predator and Alice had found this little guy barely hanging on to life. He had fought so much Alice couldn't leave him to die. She murmured to the animal as she peeled off the bandage, she didn't hear the door open…..

* * *

Danny wandered around the land wondering how he'd got so lost, he had stayed on the track! He kept on walking wondering whether his decimated corpse would be found in the wilderness one day when thankfully the house appeared in the distance….but he didn't really want to see Alice…..and she had been in there….just ahead of him he saw another building. Maybe Caroline or Nomsa was in there and could direct him back to his cabin.

When he reached the door he knocked gently, receiving no reply he pushed the door ajar and saw Alice stood at an operating table holding a baby animal of some kind. She was looking the animal over, most specifically a scar murmuring to it softly. A lock of hair had fallen over her forehead just above her eyes which her glowing with intensity. She was using her free hand to re-bandage the animal. His breath caught as he saw how gentle her touch was, this was his Alice, this was the girl he fallen in love with. He knew he should walk away, he didn't want to see her never mind talk to her but she looked so much like the girl he used to know in the past that he decided to risk it. He closed the door over and knocked again, louder this time.

"Come in, I'll be done in a minute…." she called.

Danny opened the door and pretended to be shocked when he saw her, "Um…Sorry, I'll….."

Alice saw him and a frown immediately creased across her forehead. When Danny saw it the girl he used to know disappeared and he knew this was a bad idea.

"Guests aren't allowed in here." he voice flat and emotionless. She looked back at the animal fastening the bandage in place the concern for the animal returning.

When he saw the concern in her eyes as she looked at the animal it reminded him of the time she used to care for him when he was hurt. "I….I know…." he whispered. "I got lost and thought there might be less chance of running into you here than at the house, I didn't know this was a vet surgery."

"Actually." she began placing the animal back in its cage. "you're more likely to find me here than anywhere else. This is my domain, Caroline and Nomsa don't come in here often. They call it my torture chamber." Alice found a small smile forming and halted it.

He nodded, "Ok, I'll remember that." and he backed away turning towards the house.

"Caroline and Nomsa are generally busy at this time of day so I'll direct you." she called impulsively.

He stopped and walked towards the door again. He knew he shoiuld ask Nomsa, it was only directions though, what could go wrong?

Alice washed her hands and headed to him as she dried them on a paper towel, "Ok." she said tossing the towel in the bin and going outside. "Just follow that trail." she pointed down a path. "But when the car path turns left, you go right and follow that trail. After walking a minute or two you should see the roof of the huts in the distance." she looked at him wearily.

Danny didn't even have to look at her to know what she was thinking. "You think I'm gonna get lost again don't you?" he asked, not a hint of accusation in his voice, more like humour.

Alice studied him, unsure of how to reply.

"Well I'm capable of it." he carried on. "I got turned around on my paper round, remember we had that new address which led us down a different street and somehow we went the wrong direction….."

"What's this we?" she asked without thinking a smile on her face. "I told you we should have backtracked…."

"I was trying to save time!" he protested.

"Yeah, well we ended up half an hour late as you insisted just another minute and we'd come onto the opening we needed. We were only in a bloody cul de sac! Good thing I was there or you'd probably still be walking!"

Danny was smiling at her, the same way she was smiling at him….until it hit her that she didn't wasn't to be talking to him never mind about the past…..her smile disappeared, when it did it seemed to bring him down to the ground too.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." he told her curtly. "Thanks for the help." and began to walk towards the trail.

"No problem." she replied and walked back into her surgery. Memories of happier times floating around making her feel terrible. One good thing came form that though, she was able to be civil with him, just two weeks of that and then she'd never have to see him again.

* * *

Alice was setting the table for tea that night, about twenty minutes prior she'd had another altercation with Rosie. Alice had stomped out of the house counting all the ways she could kill her. Now she was slamming cutlery down.

"Rosie?" Nomsa asked carrying glasses out.

"Teenagers!" Alice growled.

"We've all been there." Nomsa told her. "They grow out of it for the most part."

"Why is she so…ARGH!" Alice asked grinding her teeth.

The older woman laughed.

Alice began sorting the cutlery again.

"You need two more sets, Leon and Danny are coming up for tea." Caroline told her walking out of the house.

Alice froze and looked between them. "You're kidding?"

Caroline shook her head.

"So not only do I have to put up with them on my land I have to eat with them too?" she was too tired to try and be civil with him right now!

"You don't usually mind." Nomsa remarked. "Has one caught your eye?"

Alice rolled her eyes, "I would rather have my eyes gouged out then go there!"

"No wonder you aren't married girl!" Caroline chided.

"I was remember?" Alice muttered placing plates down.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgot about that." Nomsa added.

"Somehow I doubt that." Alice told her walking into the house to collect more cutlery. They hadn't asked her about it at least, they must be listening to Dupe for a change!

As she left the house she saw two figures in the distance, she didn't really want to greet them, "I'll go get Dupe and Rosie….." Alice stomach plummeted, Rosie! She looked again at the people approaching and swore. Nomsa pulled a wooden spoon from no where and rapped her on the head, "Alice, language!"

Alice rubbed her head, "Do you keep that thing in your back pocket or something? OW!"

"I never know when I'll need it!" Nomsa retorted.

"Yeah, well I'm gonna get you done for vets abuse!" still rubbing the spot.

"The language which comes out of your mouth is not suitable for a lady." Nomsa told her sternly.

Alice narrowed her eyes, normally she would have been locked in an argument with Nomsa about this not being the stone age but the figures were slowly getting closer. "Look I need to do something, I'll be back out soon ok?" then without leaving them time to make any remark and draw her into an argument she walked into the house towards Rosie's room.

Alice reached her door and inhaled deeply wondering how much this gonna cost her, she entered quickly, everything forgotten when she found Rosie smoking. Alice's jaw dropped, she stomped inside, took the cigarette and stubbed it out. "Where'd you get this?"

"You ever heard of knocking?" Rosie asked looking at her belligerently.

Alice saw the box on the beside cabinet, picked it up and crumpled it into her fist.

"Hey!" Rosie yelped jumping to her feet.

"Smoking is bad for your health and I won't allow you to do it while you are here!"

"Mum let me!" Rosie spat.

"I don't care what mum said and did, I'm your guardian while you are here and you play by my rules! You got it!"

"You don't tell me what to do!" Rosie seethed.

"If you're living under my roof you do!"

Rosie straightened her back, "I'll tell them!"

"Tell then what? About you being my kid? You've done it. About Danny? You've done it! What else is there to tell. You used your bargaining chips too early kid!" Alice's heart was pounding wondering whether or not Rosie actually knew about…

Rosie stared at her darkly then swore at her, almost identical to what Alice had said on the veranda. Nomsa was right, it sounded awful, too bad she didn't have her own wooden spoon!

"If you're here to tell me about tea…." Rosie began glaring at her.

"No, I came to ask a favour." Alice admitted.

Rosie laughed, "You want a favour after what you just did, Good luck!"

"We are having visitors for tea and I don't want you to say anything to them."

"Who are they? Royalty?"

"No, guests. One of them is called Danny and well….I know him." she said shiftily.

Rosie's face lit up, "The Danny? Your Danny?"

Alice exhaled and bowed her head, "Yeah."

"Oh this is too good to be true! My mum and dad…."

Alice hit the end of her tether, "For Christ's sake I'm not your mum and he definitely isn't your dad ok!" Slice shouted. "Can you just do this for me?"

"Why?"

Alice was silent for a moment, "Look Rosie I know I haven't been much of anything to you but I'm here now and I'm asking you to do this one thing for me."

Rosie scrutinised her then shook her head, "Sorry that isn't quite a good enough reason."

Alice shrugged, she'd expected as much. "You know there is a saying Rosie, what goes around comes around, karma can be a bitch! One day I hope you don't need me too much coz next time I might not be here to bail you out."

After saying that Alice left Rosie alone and headed back outside.

Danny and Leon were say with a bottle of beer, Dupe passed her, motioned his head up and patted her cheek, 'Chin up.'

Alice smiled a ghost of a smile at him and nodded. Walked over to the table and poured herself a glass of iced tea.

Danny stole a glance at Alice as she stood by Dupe on the veranda. Saw the affection between the two. Dupe said something to her and she shook her head with a smile and rested her head on his shoulder a moment. She was loved here anyway, that was something he thought.

Nomsa brought out steaming trays of food and people began to take their seats. Danny and Leon followed suit. Pleasant conversation began to swirl around, Alice stood up, "I'd better go get…."

As Alice stood a young teenage girl walked out of the house. Danny felt like he was looking at the image of Alice when he first met her. The slow saunter, the way the girl held herself and he could feel the attitude from across the veranda…. Rosie ignored the guests and took her seat beside Alice.

Leon smiled at her. "Hello, I don't think we've met you yet."

Rosie turned her head slowly to look at him, "You haven't." and began spooning potatoes onto her plate leaving his statement at that.

Danny had to bite back a smile, that was so totally Alice…..but how was this girl so much like her? Who was she?

"Well what is your name?" Leon asked.

"I'm Rosie, Alice is my big sister. My mum dropped me off last night."

"Rosie?" Danny murmured surprised, last time held seen her she was in nappies! Now look at her, a teenager, just like Alice too!

"Hello." she smiled cordially.

Alice couldn't eat, she was waiting for Rosie to drop some sort of bombshell!

Rosie looked at her, "You not hungry?"

Alice mechanically picked up her fork and scooped up some broccoli.

"Don't know how you eat that stuff. Mum was wrong, I guess we're not that alike huh Alice?" Rosie asked.

Alice had no idea what to say, Rosie was being nice to her and all Alice could think of this was the calm before the storm, she was gonna drop a bombshell when Alice was least expecting it, so all she had to do was keep her guard up!

Conversation swirled as people ate and Alice was surprised that Rosie was polite not causing a scene at all, until the subject of Danny's previous marriage came up….Alice began silently saying prayers to whatever higher power was up there. She took a drink to hide her shaking head, this really had gone far too well….but then how was Leon, Nomsa and Caroline to know that Danny's previous marriage was hers too?

"So either of you boys married?" Caroline asked as she placed her cutlery neatly by her plate.

Alice recognised the gleam in her eye and wanted to strangle her. She opened her mouth, Nomsa saw it and went for her wooden spoon pre-empting her, Alice glared, "Hit me with that thing and you may not see it again." she said with false sweetness.

Danny looked at her and couldn't help but smile at her tone and expression.

Caroline shared a conspiratorial wink with Nomsa.

"Anyway boys?" Caroline enquired.

"Nope, footloose and fancy free." Leon spoke up, he didn't mention he had an almost teenage son at home, well he lived with his mother.

"I'm not married either." Danny added softly staring down at his plate. He had hoped Caroline wasn't as tenacious...just his luck she was.

"But he was married!" Leon spooned the last bit of food into his mouth and smiled at Nomsa. "Thank you that was wonderful."

"You're very welcome." Nomsa replied.

Leon nudged Danny, "Anyway this one here he's damaged goods. He's not only divorced but he's just come out of a long term relationship."

Alice pretended not to care but she didn't like the sound of long term relationship, her jaw clenched.

"Leon…." Danny murmured.

"Sorry mate but you are damaged goods right now, still on the rebound from Sarah." Leon looked at Caroline, "He was all ready to take the plunge and propose when she just ended it needing space. All this man wants is to settle down and have a family."

"Really?" Caroline and Nomsa asked obviously interested now, especially since his aims matched their own!

Danny exhaled refusing to even look at Alice, why did the subject of Sarah have to come up?

Leon was nodding at the older women obvious to the growing tension between Danny and Alice. "Sadly his first marriage has left him a little jaded but all he needs is the right woman to bring him around."

"Alice was married before too you know!" Rosie spoke up grinning.

Alice glared at her darkly sending her a silent warning.

Rosie took it and shrugged, "I'm done can I be excused?" her tone telling Alice she was doing this only as a courtesy, if she said no she'd still leave.

Alice nodded resolving to go and see her later and thank her for not causing a massive scene.

Leon was looked at her eyes glowing, "So you were married?" he smiled at her seductively. "The man was a fool to let you go, if I had you I would have held on tight."

Alice glanced at Danny who was pushing gravy around his plate feigning disinterest.

"What happened?" Leon asked. "If you don't mind talking about it."

"I don't think….." she began to say knowing Danny wouldn't want to talk about this….until she remembered how easily he seemed to move on from her, even considering getting remarried, and he couldn't call her and talk? That annoyed her far more than she cared to admit. Danny looked up at her in that moment and she changed her statement. "My ex and I were young and stupid and both made a big mistake." then she picked up both her and Rosie's plates, "Excuse me." and she left leaving the rest of the people to talk.

After filling the sink with hot water and suds she placed the dishes inside Alice walked into the living room, instinctively her eyes strayed to the window, her gaze found Danny's and neither looked away, just held it for a minute. Alice finally turned her back unable to look into the eyes she had once loved, just two weeks she reminded.

**A/N this was supposed to be a short chapter...3000 words later...lol  
anyway danice had a teeny moment reminiscing, awww bless them, but she seems very moody - cant really blame her right now :/  
dont want to give too much away about coming chappies but one thing i can tell you is that Alice is gonna very irritated by danny in he next chapter and may do something not very nice :/ he may pretend not to care but as we all know he does.  
this isn't a typical danicey get together story as you'll soon find out, don't want to say too much about this but alot of the BIG stuff hasn't even been revealed yet - thats 2 poss 3 chappies away yet and YES it does involve Rosie and for all the Rax lovers Max is in this fic too! not yet though, but i have set it up! Keep reading for all this and more :D x**


	7. Out Of My Mind

**A Week Later**

Alice was in her surgery lkistening to her air conditioner hum, she was lounging back in her chair glancing out of her window keeping an eye out for her unwanted guests. It had been a sorcher of a week, they had zero rain so far which meant the guests wanted to do things like game drives and visits, she made sure she was away pretty much all day. The time had passed surprisingly quickly but not quick enough, she knew she wasn't going to be able to avoid them forever. It didn't help that Caroline and Nomsa were trying to throw them together which was irritating, she always seemed to know just when Alice was going to go home as there the men would be eating or chatting. Alice had started eating out or skipping meals, by the time they left she was going to be a dress size smaller! On top of that she was going to be far better off financially, she had taken on twice as many call outs and worked her surgery sun up until sun down, hid at Mara in the evenings and looked for her mother in whatever free time she had. So here she was, in her office dialling yet another phone number trying to find her mum for Rosie…difference between this phone number and all the rest was she knew this one was a winner.

It had cost her a small fortune but she had hired a private detective who managed to track her mother down in the UK. She hadn't even tried to hide! Going back to the same estate Alice used to live on as a child, she didn't know why she hadn't thought of it! She was sat back ion her chair listening to the telephone ring in her ear.

"Hello?" came a soft Glaswegian voice.

The accent Alice had inherited having lived there until she was ten. "Hello mum its Alice."

"Oh no not you!" her mother yelped.

"Don't hang up!" Alice said quickly. "I need to talk to you that's all!"

Her mum was quiet so long Alice thought she had put the phone down and left it somewhere, a disjointed voice floated across the line, "Ok talk then."

Alice exhaled, "Aren't you even going to ask about Rosie at all? You don't know if she is safe." On the subject of Rosie, at the moment Alice's relationship had dips and flows. Mostly dips, but she seemed to enjoy her time in the surgery, she helped with the meds and cleaned the pens and cages for pocket money. It was hard but Rosie seemed to be getting into it….things had been great with them until Alice caught her with a bottle of Dupes whiskey which caused a screaming match. Why couldn't Rosie see she was only doing what was best for her? her mums voice yanked her from her thoughts.

"I know she is safe Alice, you wouldn't be phoning me if she wasn't with you, you have had no time for me for years!" her mums voice bitter.

"How do you know they didn't contact me when they couldn't find you? How do you know she wasn't hit by a car? Or kidnapped?"

"How is she then?" Linda asked almost bored.

Alice clenched her jaw, "Do you actually care?"

Linda didn't answer and had her mother been in front of her Alice might have hit her. "Well?" Alice hissed.

"You don't know what I went through with her Alice, she had been expelled from as many schools in the last three years. She is smoking, drinking…." trying to justify her actions.

Alice could guess what her mum went through by the treatment she was getting by Rosie, Rosie was her sister though, it wasn't fair on Alice having this thrust on her. "So what mum? You throw your daughter away because its hard work? Coz she's difficult?" Alice shook her head on the phone. "Then again that's what you do isn't it? You did it to me when I was eleven and went to live with my dad! At least I had him."

"And Rosie has you." her mum told her.

"She needs her parents, I don't know how to raise a teenager!"

"She'd have both her parents if it wasn't for you!" Linda fumed.

"Don't blame that on me!" Alice snapped. "HE started on me! HE hit me! I lost so much coz of him! I couldn't stay after you picked him. I left because I had to! You picked a man over your daughter!"

"YOU picked a man over your mother and looked what happened to that!" Linda laughed.

Alice felt rage bubbling beneath the surface. "Don't pretend to know what went on with me and Danny….."

Linda was laughing louder, "I know more than you think! I know less than a week after your split he was seeing some girl he used to talk to from school…."

Alice's mum knew just how to push her buttons, unfortunately when Alice got in contact with her mum once again she believed she could trust her and told her how worried she was that Danny was cheating on hr with a girl in his class. It was all unfounded but her mum never missed a chance to use it….."You know it probably best Rosie is away from you!" Alice hissed. "God knows what kind of start she's had! With you as a mother it's a wonder both of us aren't messed up!"

"You both are messed up! She is gonna end up just like you, well she's your problem now!"

"You have NO IDEA WHAT I WAS LIKE YOU WALKED OUT!"

"And what did I find when I got back to you? Same as her! She's taking drugs, sleeping with boys, smoking and drinking and I just know she's gonna end up…."

Alice refused to listen to her mother list all her faults. She removed the phone from her ear and pounded it off the table three times hard hoping to have caused her mum some pain. She then tossed the phone on the table and sat forward her head on her hand. There was no way Rosie could go back to her mum now. God knows what Rosie had already been through. She lowered her head further, her hands running through her hair feeling thoroughly irritated with life. She couldn't wait for tonight with Vanessa! She was going to get blind drunk!

She wasn't sleeping very well lately, the close proximity to Danny was messing her up. She was avoiding him the best she could but like the thought earlier Caroline was trying to throw them together. She could feel him when he was at the house and now Caroline and Nomsa were using him as a handy man! Having him near was putting her on edge, her nerves frayed…..a knock startled her from her thoughts…..oh good work, she wouldn't have to think of Danny now! She got up, "C'min." she called and headed for the door.

Danny appeared and those nerves which were fraying finally snapped and her temper exploded. "I told you guests aren't supposed to be in here!"

"Caroline said you had a sticky door and told me you were out. Don't blame me!" his eyes flashing fire.

"I don't need you ok! I didn't need you ten years ago and I certainly don't need you now!" completely over reacting.

"I didn't say you did, I was doing a favour for Caroline." and he crossed his arms.

"Well I don't want you in here, I don't want you anywhere near me!"

His whole body seemed to harden, "Fine by me!" and he spun quickly and left. Alice was breathing heavily the anger in her refusing to ebb. You know what? It was time to shut up shop and start drinking a little early, God knew she was entitled to it! Oh and Vanessa better leave Leon at home, since they met a few days ago it was like they were joined at the hip! Alice didn't want Danny or Leon rammed down her throat, tonight she wanted to forget!

* * *

Alice had taken a long luxurious bath after her altercation with Danny, granted she had taken a bottle of wine in there with her, she'd had three glass while she soaked. She wanted to have the whole bottle but she knew better than to drink it all, this night would be ending very quickly if she drank too much before she even left the house. So after emptying her glass she put the lid back on the bottle and it currently sat on her nightstand while she sat doing her make up.

She had been in touch with Vanessa and she had promised her no Leon tonight, it was a girls night. Plus Alice knew that if Leon was around then Danny might be too and she had no desire to be around him. She felt all off balance around him, her moods swinging uncontrollably from being ok and extremely angry, the last time she'd been like this…..no! Not going there and not thinking of Danny either! It wasn't that she didn't feel guilty for how she treated him in the surgery, or that she didn't know she had to say sorry for it, she knew she did but the bitter ex wife part of her thought sod him, he brought this on himself! She told him guests weren't allowed in he surgery regardless whether Nomsa or Caroline told him different…..

'He had looked so natural stood there', sprang into her mind. He'd had long pressed blue jeans on with a blue t-shirt under a shirt which hung open, he was tanning nicely. It was weird as when they'd been at home he used to burn, he'd had such sensitive skin! She used to have to cover him in sun cream when they went out. Her eyes lowered and she smiled as she remembered a play fight they'd had once when she had been putting cream on his back, the lotion had got everywhere….she looked in the mirror saw the smile and scowled at her reflection. They had been young and stupid! They had no money and what did they do? They go and get married, they had never been abroad together, never even had a honeymoon! It had seemed like such a good idea at the time! They'd had a few months of grace whether if felt like the world was theirs and they could overcome anything.

She had spoke to her mother once about her current partner and then everything seemed to go wrong. It was funny marriage hadn't seemed as fun after that. It wasn't what she expected. Looking back she had expected it to just work, neither once of them was trying and working at it like they should have been. Still even if they had tried she knew that they would never have worked, it had been better to find that out earlier on. The marriage had been far too impulsive…..she scowled harder, why on earth was she still thinking about him? Why couldn't she get him out of her head? She had spent far too much time dwelling on him and their massive mistake and she was doing it no more! So clearing her mind she finished her make up and zipped up her bag.

She exited her room to walk into the kitchen and saw 2 full bottles of whiskey sat there, almost welcoming her. It was almost like Dupe had read her mind so as she walked into the kitchen she picked them up and took them to her room, unscrewing the bottle of one.

**A/N this is a kind of cleaning up chapter, Rosie is sticking with Alice and she is about to go out with Vanessa oooo not good i tell you, this chapter was supposed to be far longer but it had like 5000 words and still wasn't finsihed so i've cut it, next chappie up soon x**


	8. Too Far

Alice was in a loud nightclub music thumping around her as she, Vanessa and a group of woman were laughing. She was sipping some sort of fruity cocktail, she forgot what was in it but it certainly was nice! Alice surveyed the area and finding no men to her liking downed the drink. "C'mon lets go to another club, there's no good looking men in here."

"Ah so Alice is finally on the prowl." Elize said knowingly.

"We wondered when this would happen, we were all sure you were a nun in secret." Louisa added.

Alice grinned, "I am most certainly NOT a nun and I am looking for a man!" after deliberating about Danny for a long time while drinking whiskey she found that the best way to forget him was to replace him with another man, a better man! He had went off with that Sarah woman! Probably straight away! Probably didn't even wait until they were divorced! He probably cheated with her! Her thoughts were getting hotter and angrier so she put her empty glass on a table. "C'mon girls, I'm here to have fun!"

Vanessa, who had been watching her closely the whole night knew something was up, Alice was never this unrestrained, even drinking she kept herself in check. "Alice how much did you have to drink before you came out?" Alice was rather merry, and not happy merry drunk merry.

"I had some wine…oh and maybe a glass of whiskey…" Alice made a face, "Ok maybe half a bottle of whiskey…." she shrugged, "I was thirsty!" and Danny was refusing to leave her mind, she had planned to drown the damn thing of there but it seemed it could swim! But one thing she did find was that the more she drank the less he seemed to bother her so she carried on until the car came to pick her up….the lights above her illuminated the room a moment and a man across the room caught her eye. He was tall, well taller than her which wasn't really hard, had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked at her and sent her a smile.

"Ohhh someone has caught Alice's eye. Still want to leave?" Louisa asked.

Vanessa looked at him and frowned, "Alice…." she began.

Alice waved her off and looked back at the man, "Maybe we could hang around for ten minutes." this time when he smiled she smiled back at him. She was about to head towards him when he began to weave his way in between the throngs of people. He stopped at the bar collected two glasses and carried them over. "Here you go." he said when he reached her, "I bought you this."

Alice raised an eyebrow, "I don't know if I can accept that, after all I don't know you."

"I'm Terry." and offered his hand for a shake.

"Alice." she replied and took it to shake. Instead of the handshake though he raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, "very nice to meet you Alice."

Alice felt a blush fill her cheeks and a warmth fill her at the heat in his brown eyes.

"Can you take the drink now?"

Alice smiled up into his eyes and played along. "I don't think so, see you're still a stranger. What if you've done something to it, a girl can't be too careful."

Terry lifted her glass to his lips and drank some. "There, if there was something wrong with it would I have done that?"

Alice shrugged, "We'll see if you pass out in ten minutes. Plus I definitely can't have it now, its full of your germs."

He chuckled, "I see your playing hard to get. How about I take you to the bar and buy you a drink while you're there, is that ok?"

Alice pretended to consider and then nodded, "Yeah that I can do!" and motioned to Vanessa who had moved to the dance floor, Vanessa nodded and got back to dancing.

Terry guided Alice to the bar and when they reached it Alice knelt against it as he towered over her, "So Alice enjoying yourself?" he asked after telling the bar tender his order.

She was handed a bright blue cocktail and nodded to him, "Its been alright so far." then she grinned. "The night isn't over yet though."

He nodded slowly. "Do you come here often?"

Alice shook her head, "My job keeps me pretty busy, tonight is the first time in a while."

He knelt closer to her, "This is actually my first time coming here, I live and work at Namibia, I'm a wild dog expert."

Alice smiled widely. "I'm a vet and co own a reserve my close to here, my business partner was interested in introducing a pack of wild dogs on our land."

"Well I'd say its your unbelievable good fortune that we met as I am about the only person in the whole of Africa who can help you with that." he smiled cockily. "They are notoriously hard to track."

Usually by this point his brazen arrogance would have made her walk away but for some reason the look in his eyes made her stay, "Well I'll let you know that MY tracker can track anything! He could find you with nothing but his senses, no tracking equipment at all, and yes he's that good!"

Terry shook his head, "Not wild dogs."

Alice stood up straighter, "Anything!"

"If that is true then I have to meet him." Terry said giving in gracefully.

Alice smiled at him and lowered her voice, "Play your cards right and maybe you will." alcohol making her act completely out of character.

Terry leaned in closer and was about to steal a kiss when Vanessa interrupted. "It's getting rowdy here so the girls were thinking of heading over to Fatani's for a while. He'll be closing soon, then we'll go home. What do you think Alice?"

"Sure." Alice nodded. "You coming Terry?"

"Can't say I've ever been to Fatani's before."

"It's my local." Alice replied, "Nice atmosphere, nice owner, nice everything. Plus you might even get to meet my tracker, Dupe, he frequents that place often."

Terry shrugged and offered her his arm, "Lead the way."

* * *

They all jumped in a taxi and arrived at Fatani's in not time. Both Louisa and Elize decided the night was getting on and went home so it was Vanessa Alice and Terry who walked in. There was a fire going in his outside area, there were a group of people there shrouded in darkness, Alice paid them little notice as they headed to the bar. Vanessa and Fatani were soon locked in a conversation as Terry and Alice flirted. He was stood behind her whispering in her ear when she remembered Terry wanted to meet Dupe. "Fatani is Dupe here?" Alice asked.

"Sure is, just over there." Alice looked across and felt like someone had dropped a ton of lead into her stomach. There was Dupe, sat by the fire with Danny who was smiling at something he was saying….he head felt a little light, she had always liked his smile, it was always so real….she stiffened at the thought, summoning the ever present anger when she thought of her ex husband, who did he think he was? This was her local and her family and here he was just invading it!

"Alice?" Terry asked feeling the change in her. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." she said and downed her drink. "We'll have to pass on meeting Dupe tonight." then she noticed Vanessa glancing in that direction and knew this was all down to her. "Excuse me a moment Terry." and took Vanessa by the arm. "Did you know they were here?" she hissed.

"I might have." she murmured. "I was bored, you're all close to him so I you wouldn't mind if I met up with Leon…."

Alice ground her teeth together, when she looked back to Dupe she saw Leon motioning Vanessa over, Danny was engrossed in a conversation with Dupe….until she saw his eyes flick to hers. He wore a white shirt with black jeans and looked really good….

"Alice you have a funny expression on your face." Vanessa remarked with a smile and before Alice could even muster a denial Vanessa cut her off. "Yes you do and you're looking at Danny."

Alice glared at Vanessa hating that she could read her thoughts. "I'm going back to Terry!" then don't ask her how she knew but she felt Danny's eyes on her and involuntary shivers ran down her spine, she felt very hot all of a sudden.

"He's looking at you." Vanessa whispered. "I think he likes the dress you're wearing."

"I don't…." the rest of her statement disappeared when she made the mistake of looking in his direction. He had a funny intense look on his face. "I don't care!" she repeated voice not as firm as she hoped.

"You look pale but your cheeks are red, you like him don't you?"

Alice didn't even answer that one. Instead to prove to Vanessa she had zero interest in Danny she went over to Terry, smiled up at him and pulled his lips down to hers. Her arms slowly snaked around his shoulders and she moved closer to him. It felt like it took her forever to realise that she was kissing someone in the exact way Danny taught her to, to melt into it and go with what her feelings were telling her to…her first kiss with Danny exploded in her mind and she was powerless to stop the memory…..

* * *

Danny and Alice were sat on the picnic table in her backyard soaking up some sun. It had been two weeks since he asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend and their hands were loosely twined as they chatted. Throughout the holiday they had been inseparable, today her dad was out and they were alone.

"You want to come in?" she asked him with a smile.

"Thought you wanted to stay out and work on your tan."

"That was until I realised my dad was out." and she grinned.

"What? So you're sneaking me in?" he laughed. "Naughty naughty."

"Its not like its for any reason like….well you know." she told him blushing, "We haven't even kissed yet!"

Danny was aware of that. He had kissed girls before but he felt nerves at the thought of his first kiss with Alice. He really liked her! What if he messed it up? Or she didn't like it? Since the subject came up thought and he had this chance he decided to take it and hopefully it would all be alright. She was looking at him waiting for a reply so he leaned in and kissed her softly. Alice hadn't bee expecting it and tensed up a little bit.

Danny looked ashen when he felt the change in her, "Sorry…." he told her quickly. "If you didn't…."

"No no." she was quick to say. "It was really nice, I liked it but…" soon she was fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt.

"What?" he asked.

"Well I've had boyfriends in the past but that was kid stuff and I …." she quieted not really wanting to voice it. "You're my first proper boyfriend and I haven't really…."

"Oh." he said understanding what she was trying to say. Now he really felt the pressure for her to enjoy the kiss if it was her first!

"I understand if you want to break up with me."

Danny silenced her, "No it'll be fine. Really." he assured at her dubious face. "Just relax."

"What if you don't like it?" he smiled at her wide and real knowing that no matter what happened next they would be fine, they both cared about what the other wanted and that is what mattered.

He took her hand in his, "No matter what you do I promise you I'm certain I'll love it. Just don't think too much about what you should be doing, just relax and feel it." he put his hand on her cheek and moved in slowly, his lips found hers and he felt how unsure she was. He softened the hold and rubbed his thumb down her cheek and in that moment she relaxed. He deepened the kiss a little and felt the beginnings of a response. He slowed the kiss not wanting to push her too fast, then broke it. He looked at her and smiled. The look in the others eyes was one both were sure they would never forget…..

* * *

The kiss with Terry ended but Alice didn't remember a second of it. He was looking down at her with stars in his eyes. "Wow." he whispered.

Alice didn't look at him, her gaze seemed to seek Danny of their own accord. Their eyes met and she knew he had been remembering their first kiss like she had, and he knew that is what she had been thinking of. You know what? She thought angrily. She had been irritated by him for a week and he acted like he didn't care that she was avoiding him! He had moved on! He just sat there unaffected as she kissed another man right in front of him! He really didn't care about her! Well sod him! She was gonna give him a taste of his own medicine. And before common sense intervened she went over to Fatani and asked him to play a specific song. Had she been sober she would have never done this but she was blind drunk, frustrated and not thinking straight. She looked up at terry. "Would you like to dance?"

He nodded and took her hand.

* * *

Danny sat with a bottle of beer in his hand lounging back on his chair. He had been having a great time until Alice walked in with, well whoever HE was! He shouldn't have let Leon convince him to come out but was else he was supposed to do? Hide in his hut for fear of running into her, this was his holiday after all and he wasn't wasting this last week hiding from her. He thought she was out at the clubs tonight anyway!

All he had done since he was here was think about her, nothing helped it. He actually thought drinking might of solved the issue and it had for a little while…..then she sauntered into he bar looking far too beautiful in her red dress….god red, was she trying to kill him? She was a knockout in red….whenever he started to think like that about Alice he forced himself to remember how this wasn't the girl he used to know. She was different here….except when she was around Dupe and her family. Around them he saw flashes of the girl he used to know and at those times he wanted to talk to her, get to know her again. Then she'd look at him and again the girl he'd known would disappear and his angry ex wife was there, that made the need to know her vanish.

He was trying so hard to pretend like he didn't care that she went out of her way not to spend any time around him at all. It was the way it should be but... well call him crazy but this was their chance! Not to reconcile but to get all the hurt out in the open and move on. Something they hadn't had the chance to do in the past. He had resolved himself to go and see her tomorrow, and yet here she was now. Setting his teeth on edge kissing other men in front of him like she wasn't his ex wife!

He wasn't all that bothered though, he might have been if she hadn't looked in his direction to see his reaction. Why would she do that? It wasn't like her to play games she was usually very straight forward. She must have had a lot to drink to act completely our of character like that. Obviously him being here was irritating her so he was just going to go home and leave her to it. She may as well enjoy the rest of her night, him on the other hand? Ex wife or not it wasn't his idea of fun to see her kissing and flirting with someone else. So he drained his bottle, stood up and was about to say his goodbyes when he heard the sound of piano…the song one she had to know he'd recognise. His head snapped up and he looked to the bar, she'd moved though onto the dance floor. Lyrics began to play and his jaw clenched. She wouldn't, she just wouldn't! And although those words repeated in his mind the fact was there she was, dancing with an unknown man, to their song. His fists clenched and all he wanted to do was go over there and punch the man dancing with her. This wasn't his fault though, he was just a pawn Alice used to get to him!

She looked at him while she danced with the man, Danny shook his head, she wasn't worth getting arrested over not any more, so he turned and walked out of the bar….

* * *

As Alice led her partner onto the dance floor she had no doubts as to what she was about to do. As he wrapped his arms around her holding her close she felt nothing, even as the lead singer began to sing she didn't feel all that bothered about what she was doing….until the chorus kicked in and in her drunken haze it finally hit her what she was doing. She looked towards Danny and although he pretended to be nonchalant and unaffected she could see pure hurt in his eyes, they had never been that dark before. He shook his head at her, his expression slipping for only a second….that was all it took, in that second she knew she had been totally wrong about him, that expression told her that he was hurting far more than she knew right now….and it was all her fault. Guilt washed over her but he didn't see it, he had already turned and walked from the bar. "Danny…." she whispered and pulled herself free from Terry's hold.

"Alice, don't you like…."

"I'm sorry Terry." she said already waving him off leaving him shell shocked on the dance floor as she made her way to the exit.

Vanessa had watched the scene with interest and when Terry tried to follow Alice she halted him and introduced him to Dupe assuring him that Alice was alright she just had a little too much to drink and needed some fresh air. Dupe and Terry were soon engrossed in tracking techniques.

Alice however was too busy trying to catch up to Danny to worry whether or not Terry was following her, "Danny." she called. He carried on walking so she followed and called his name louder "Danny!"

He was so angry he didn't even want to look at her right now, or ever again if he ever had his way! Why did he always allow her to do this to him? How many times did she have to hurt him before he learned his lesson? Well no more!

Alice kicked off her heels and picked them up. She ran after him barefoot. After finally catching up she grabbed his arm to turn him.

He yanked it away and continued walking having no idea where he was going. He hadn't expected her to follow him, she never had in the past!

"Danny talk to me!" she asked.

He spun, "There is nothing to say!" he hissed pain making his chest hurt.

"I didn't mean….I don't…" she fumbled her heart pounding. "I don't know what I was thinking."

His face hardened. "Yes you did!" he spat. "You were trying to make me jealous! Trying to provoke a reaction from me like you always did in the past!" his face twisted in a grimace. "What happened to you?"

"What happened to me?" she gasped and ran so she was stood in front of him anger flowing hot. "What happened to me was my husband deciding he didn't love me anymore!"

He saw her angry expression and it was one she wore often in the death of their marriage, it made it harder to believe that the pain her voice was about anything other than wounded pride! "You left me Alice remember? By note no less, so don't go spouting off about me not loving you anymore!"

"You quit caring!" she shouted.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" she retorted.

"No….."

"Don't lie Danny! What was I supposed to do? I was twenty years old and you had been my only boyfriend, I was losing you and I didn't know how to stop it! I loved you but you changed into someone I didn't recognise…."

"Well getting arrested does that to you!"

"I apologised for that! Countless times! You never I never meant for things to go that far!" her face ashen.

"Yeah well now I have a record for assault!"

She rubbed her face turning her guilt into anger, "And you still blame me for that?"

"This is you all over!" he shouted. "Always trying to provoke a reaction from me, the and now! Well I'm not a kid anymore and these games you play aren't going to work, you're not getting the chance to manipulate me anymore! That's what you wanted isn't it? You kissed him in front of me to see what I'd do. When that didn't work you play that song, OUR song! What did you want me to do Alice? What reaction did you expect? Did you think I was going to storm over and hit him?"

"No…" Alice breathed, knowing he was right. "I…"

"I don't want to hear your justifications ok! They probably haven't changed from me when you were young huh?" and crossed his arms

"Danny when we were kids we did some stupid stuff but…."

"Well obviously you haven't grew up!" he interrupted.

She felt anger begin to bubble, "Hey! Don't you dare stand there and pretend like you know me! I'm not the same kid you left…."

His jaw dropped, "You have no right being angry at me! I'm the one who was used, I wonder…."

Alice paled and knew what he was about to say, "Don't!" she warned coldly, jaw clenched as she looked at him malevolently.

"You have no idea what I'm about to say."

"I'm warning you now bring that up and don't come back to Leopards den because I swear I'll be there and waiting for you with a gun!" her face slowly growing even colder, her chest heaving.

"I wasn't…"

"I know you!" she shouted, "I can see it in your eyes and it isn't fair especially since it was ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Danny stood there quietly absorbing her words, "I knew you blamed me." he said softly.

Alice stood there chest heaving with anger, the emotion of the moment caught up with her and there were tears in her eyes, her shoulders slumped, "I don't blame you, I never did, I just….I don't know what to do. Then or now."

He saw her battling to hide her tears and he couldn't pretend like he didn't care, he had never been able to see her cry, and unlike earlier he knew this was real. Without thinking he took her in his arms wrapping a hand around her head and the other around her waist. He could feel her shoulders shaking so he rubbed her hair gently. He looked in the direction of then bar and saw Alice's friend Vanessa and Leon stood watching. Vanessa walked inside and a moment later she emerged with Dupe following. Dupe stomped over staring at him darkly and took Alice by the arm. She went with the older man willingly leaving Danny feeing slightly bereft. Dupe had his head close to her ear and was murmuring to her softly. He looked at Danny, "I'm taking her home." Danny didn't even want to think about the mans tone! Instead he walked over to Vanessa and Leon. Vanessa hand moved like lightning and she slapped him hard on the cheek.

He hissed in pain closing his eyes at the sting. "What's that for?"

"Whatever you did to make her cry! And be grateful you only got that!" after that she hurried after Dupe and Alice.

Danny bowed his head and sighed, "Your turn mate! You wanna have a go at me for making her cry, go ahead."

Leon shook his head, "I think Vanessa covered it."

Danny nodded and walked back inside the bar finding a dark corner to hide in. Leon got two bottles of beer and joined him. "I thought you were going back to the huts?"

Danny placed the bottle of the table and stared morosely at the navy sky. "Alice warned me in no uncertain terms that if I went back there she was going to shoot me."

Leons eyes widened, "Whoa!"

Danny didn't reply, all he could think about were her tears and how much it hurt him to see her in so much pain.

Leon was busy pondering things, "You know mate I've been thinking and…well Alice does seem to hate you a lot! Does she know your ex wife or something?" he took a drink from his bottle in contemplation, "Unless…."

"Unless what?" Danny breathed depression covering him like a shroud.

"She IS your ex wife?" Leon left the question hanging.

Danny tried to lie but couldn't find the energy within himself to do it, "I met Alice when she was 13 and I was 15, I asked her out a few weeks later."

"A younger girlfriend?" Leon chuckled.

Danny glared, "It wasn't like that ok, I didn't even know she was younger until a few weeks later and I tried to break it off but….I really liked her it wasn't for any other reason but that! We waited until she was 16 and 18 before we did anything and it wasn't easy!"

"I'll bet, look at her now. If she was even half as good looking then…" and he took a drink from his bottle shaking his head.

When she was 17 and I 19 we decided to get married."

"Why?" Leon asked frowning, "You were both just kids."

"We just did, it doesn't matter why, then when I was 23 we divorced. Beginning and end of mine and Alice's life….until I came here." continued staring at the cloudless sky.

Leon was staring at him, "Do you still love her?"

Danny snorted.

"You blame her for the divorce?"

"She asked for it so I gave her what she wanted." he retorted, his gaze never leaving the sky.

"Did you contest it?"

"And say what exactly? We hadn't seen each other in at least six months, probably longer. I did what she wanted then worked on getting on with my life without her."

"And now we're here and its dragging up a lot of painful memories?" Leon finished.

"Dragging up stuff that is best left alone, all I have to do is look at her and I remember it all, the good and the bad. It was hard enough the first time, I can't deal with it anymore so I give up I'm leaving."

And there it was, his decision was made, Danny was going home tomorrow.

**A/N this chapter proves no good can come from drinking yourself into oblivion!  
Poor danice tho both of them still have so much pain at the past... The song she danced with another man to, you find out the name of that next chapter, it has far more significance to their relationship then you know yet, especially to Danny so what she did was really cruel :/  
As you can see not a typical danicy story, if they are going to fall for each other again they are going to have to work very hard!  
Anyway you had few more nuggets of info on their past Danny has a criminal record now, how? hmmm and he is still bitter about how she left him. BUT there is something big in their past neither one wants to talk about that they blame the other for again, what?...hmm...  
Despite it all they still have a connection, if they can get past all the hurt this could get better! (oh and stay away from alcohol too lol) x**


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